Transformers Prime: The Prime Factor
by Lucifer-Allheart
Summary: Following the events of 'Darkest Hour', Optimus Prime has fallen and the Autobots are leaderless. He always said others would rise to take his place. But who can take the place of the greatest of heroes? Only a Prime can succeed a Prime. And there are no Primes left.
1. Prologue

Transformers Prime – The Prime Factor

Prologue

Location: Nevada

Time: 4 months after the destruction of the Autobot base.

System user: Arcee

Designation: Autobot

"Smoke, give me an update, now!" Arcee yelled, desperately trying to make herself heard above the multitude of explosions on the other side of the large rock.

To her side, Smokescreen could barely bite back a pained grunt before complying. "Left leg is critically damaged, I can't stand on it. Blaster down to thirty-nine percent power. Right side still functional."

Stepping out of cover for a second, Arcee fired blindly at the army of Decepticons pinning them down, but it was useless. Before she got three shots off, she was forced to duck behind cover again.

"JACKIE!" despite the roar of the explosions, Bulkhead's sudden shout – filled with a primal fear – could clearly be heard. Turning to look Arcee was just in time to see Wheeljack drop back, a large black mark indicating where he had been hit. The Wrecker went out like a light.

"Bee, get him into cover!" She quickly ordered. Even before she had given the order, the yellow-and-black scout had moved over and was pulling the war-veteran to the center of their cover, laying him next to Smokescreen.

"Damage report!" she barked again.

"Beep-beep-bee. Beep." The sounds were unintelligible to humans, but any Cybertronian could understand it just fine. _He's in __stasis __lock, systems critical._

Turning around the cover of her rock again, Arcee opened fire again. This time she got off four shots and even a blink of Knockout's red armor. With Smokescreen too injured to help and Wheeljack in stasis that left just Bulkhead, Bumblebee and herself in fighting condition. And even they were damaged, though it was mostly cosmetic.

But there were over forty Decepticons on the other side of that rock, a mix of Vehicle-based Cons (Miko had dubbed them Vehicons) and flying ones (Skycons). Knockout was in command of this small army and seemed intent on destroying them, once and for all.

'_Primus, I wish Optimus were here.'_

Arcee couldn't even begin to count just how often the thought had crept up on her since that day. But there was no helping it. instead, she reached for her radio.

"Arcee to base, come in!"

The base she was contacting was pitiful, but it was only a lousy two days old. The Autobots had barely been re-united, before they were sent out to fight this army of 'Cons. Hopefully, they had completed their objective.

"Arcee, Raf here. What's up?"

"We need a Groundbridge on our coordinates, now! The cons have us pinned down and outnumbered."

"Hold on." Another voice entered the com. A voice she knew all to well, but the one voice that had changed more then any other since the day the missile-silo base was destroyed.

_Jack_

"I have a better idea. Hold your ground for just a few more seconds."

XxX

Location: Nevada

Time: 4 months after the successful destruction of the Autobot base.

System user: Knockout

Designation: Decepticon

'_This day is fabulous!' _Knockout almost wanted to pat himself on the shoulder, but didn't waste that kind of time on a battlefield. It really was a most successful day. And it was only going to turn better and better. The Autobots had appeared – all but their medic – and were pinned down. With his army of combat-drones behind him, Knockout's victory was assured. He had seen the Wrecker, Wheeljack, drop from a well-aimed missile a minute before and he had personally injured Smokescreen to the point he couldn't fight any more.

"Press the attack! Destroy the Autobots. For the glory of Lord Megatron!" Really, without Prime around to lead them, the Autobots were laughable. They had lost their spirit the day their leader died and had never been able to regain it. Now, with the Autobots pinned down and only Ratchet available to provide them with backup, the end of the war was in sight.

And he, Knockout, was the one to finish of the last of the Autobots on Earth. The Glory that Lord Megatron would bestow upon his would be without equal.

A shame Breakdown wasn't around anymore, Knockout would have loved to share this spotlight, this moment of history with his old friend.

With another command, he ordered the drones to keep attack as they circled around the wall of stone that was protecting the Autobots. In just a few more microcycles, it would be over! The War would be won.

Just as Knockout readied his Electro-rod to join his troops in the attack, a familiar sound appeared behind him. Millennia of battle experience had left Knockout with the desire to always check out unexpected factors, so he quickly turned around to face the familiar Groundbridge portal.

XxX

Location: Nevada

Time: 4 months after the destruction of the Autobot base.

System user: Arcee

Designation: Autobot

"What idea, Jack? We're pinned down, Smokescreen and Wheeljack are down. We can not continue this fight!"

"Just hold on for a few seconds!" Jack's breathing changed, as if he was running. "We're opening the ground bridge on the other side of the Deceptions."

"WHAT?" Arcee felt despair like nothing since she saw the Omega Lock explode. "We can't make it across this battlefield!"

"We're not pulling you out." Jack replied, "We're sending in reinforcements."

"What kind of reinforcements?" More terror was creeping up in her. He couldn't be considering sending in human soldiers, right?

"Just open fire on the Cons with everything you have when I give the order!"

XxX

Location: Nevada

Time: 4 months after the successful destruction of the Autobot base.

System user: Knockout

Designation: Decepticon

'_Does Soundwave think I need more backup?'_

An instant after the green portal opened, just as Knockout was thinking that maybe Megatron would be present for this moment of glory himself, three cars jumped out and proved him wrong. Before the combat drones could react, the cars had reached them, mowing down several, before racing off, then turning around for a second run.

The center car was obviously the most powerful and armored; a large, black pick-up truck, a size and a half larger then most used, even in this country. The car on the right, just behind it was a muscle car, larger then bumblebee, colored black, with a heavy flame-motive on the front. The third car, on the left of the pick-up, stood out the most, by far. What humans called a supercar (_Honestly, why would that give it a name like that? It couldn't do anything special, just drive fast_) in a simply blue-and-grey paintjob. Knockout instantly recognized it. After all, it had put some serious scratches on his paint just a few microcycles ago!

As the trio of cars came by for another round, they suddenly split up, each going in a direction to the side. And nothing too soon, apparently: both Knockout and the drones had recovered enough and were starting to open fire on the new arrival. As they turned though, Knockout got a good, horrifying view of the pickup's back section opening up and a massive weapon appearing.

"Is that… a Gatling gun?" Knockout barely voiced the question before it was answered. The muscle car and supercar drove right by the separated group of Decepticons, herding them into more-or-less a straight line… when the pick-up's gun came to live with a roar. The heavy weapon tore through the group in seconds.

"Separate! Do not stick in groups!" Knockout ordered the small group, now cut off from the main force. The supercar and muscle car kept driving circles around the stragglers, preventing them from rejoining the main force. Cut of like that, they were easy pickings. Their armor plaiting and shielding devices were built to withstand Energon Blasters, not high-velocity shells. And when the rear-guard would fall, the new arrivals would start shooting the main force to shreds.

"You lot, open fire on those cars!"

Roughly a third of the main attacking force turned around, opening fire on the three cars as well, while the rest would keep up the suppressive fire on the Autobots. At least, that was the intent.

Knockout saw the missiles an instant before they made contact, but it was far too late to react, or even think, before they exploded, right in the middle of his main force. The explosions that followed were powerful, loud and blinding. He could feel the explosion burn his paint off, feel the concussive power of the blast knock him off. But he couldn't hear the screams of the combat drones that were in the center of the blast.

'_Small mercies, I suppose._'

Fortunately, his optics had only been blinded for an instant. As he tried to get back on his feet, Knockout quickly located the source of the sudden missile attack. There, in the sky above them and closing in quick, was a jet. An awfully familiar jet.

"Dreadwing?" even as the name escaped his mouth, the doctor knew it wasn't so. He had been present when Megatron had killed the loyal warrior. He knew where the body was. That only left a far more mundane option. A jet of the same design as the one Dreadwing had taken as his vehicle mode.

"Autobots! Open fire, hold nothing back!" the voice made Knockout, now standing on his feet along with his still functional Drones – a little over half the force he had had mere moments ago! – turn around in shock. It sounded so much like… But that was impossible!

The voice had come from the supercar and the next instant, Knockout's suspicions were confirmed. All three of the new arrivals transformed. He couldn't recognize any of them. A familiar sound from above indicated that the jet had also transformed.

The muscle car had transformed into a robot form with some impressive chest-armor. The flame motive added a certain allure, Knockout had to admit, but it also distracted from a more important detail; the robot was missing a left hand. Instead of a hand, there was a small opening there. Before knockout could even question it, flames burst from the opening.

'_A flamethrower… that's bad._'

The pick-up transformed into the largest of the three Autobots, probably reaching nearly the height of Bulkhead. But it was the multitude of weapons that drew Knockout's attention. The Gatling Gun that had previously torn through his combat drones was now mounted on it's shoulder – just like Breakdown, Knockout thought for a second – while both it's arms held a multitude of gun-barrels. This Autobot could punch and shoot at the same time.

'_Heavily armed and armored. Also bad_'

The looking above, Knockout was again reminded of Dreadwing. The flying Autobot (_A Flybot?_ _It's not part of the Aerialbots, those are gone. Starscream saw to that._) was an almost perfect replica of the former second-in-command. Only his coloration – grey, combined with bits of yellow – and weapon of choice were different. Where Dreadwing had wielded a sword and a large canon, this Autobot opted for two handheld machine guns. The remaining missiles were transferred to the flyer's shoulders; where he could no-doubt shoot them off again.

'_Flying, powerful weapons and missiles. That's very bad._'

The supercar's robot form seemed almost boring by comparison. He didn't have any impressive weaponry on display, no impressive paintjob or flying capabilities. He was almost a typical Autobot. Only his chest plate was significantly more armored then any standard Autobot. All four wheels were on his legs, an oddity amongst most Autobots, who had at least two wheels on their back, for added protection.

'_Somewhat disappointing, isn't it?_'

The drones were now on their feet, their blasters drawn. At Knockout's order, they opened fire at the four new arrivals, using their superior numbers and wide dispersion to their advantage.

Only for them to be attacked from behind again. The Autobots that had been pinned down mere moments ago had jumped out of cover and where shooting at Knockout's army with everything they had. Even Smokescreen, so weak he could barley raise his arm, was taking shots.

"AARGH! THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! SO CLOSE! I WAS SO CLOSE!" Knockout shouted in frustration as he dropped to the ground. His hasty dodge left him with a few bullet holes from the Gatling gun (_They'll take forever to properly restore!_) but that was still preferable to being torn to shreds, like the drone behind him.

Mere moments ago, he had the Autobots pinned down, victory assured! Now, all of a sudden his forces were being shot at from all directions, unable to fight back before they were mowed down.

"Why is this happening?" He shouted, opening fire on the most dangerous Autobot; the pick-up with the Gatling gun. "WHO ARE YOU!?"

The robot saw him coming, and raised an arm to great him. Bullets came flying his way from several guns – two rapid fire guns and two slower guns that had a significantly stronger impact Knockout quickly noted – but the doctor was an experienced fighter. Transforming into vehicle mode mid-charge he prevented himself from getting torn to shreds.

Using the same tactic that the Autobots had just employed against the Decepticons, Knockout raced past the pick-up truck and knocked on of it's legs out from under it.

"Name's Heavyarms." The Pick-up replied as Knockout sped past. The voice was definitely female and sounded significantly younger then Arcee's. Also, it sounded far more excited then the two-wheeler ever had.

"Hotrod." Knockout heard the voice an instant before the flame-motive muscle car – now turned back into vehicle mode – slammed into him, knocking him over. Transforming mid-spin, Knockout lashed out with his rod and managed to prevent Hotrod from following up. Before he could do more though, the flying Autobot opened fire at him.

"Jetfire! Focus on the drones." The supercar spoke up. The jet – apparently called Jetfire – stopped his assault on Knockout and returned to picking off drones, forcing them into a straight line. With terror Knockout realized what was going to happen. With the drones all lined up, Heavyarms could easily destroy them with his Gatling Gun. But she wasn't in the right position.

The supercar was.

With the familiar sound of transformation, the supercar did something Knockout had never seen before; he pulled off the extra-armored part of his chest plate, which combined with his arms into a large shield with a spike, covering most of his body. At the same time, the wheels on his legs sled down and lifted him up. Instead of standing on his feet, the supercar was standing on his wheels, like a human skater.

That's when he accelerated with the kind of power that proved why humans called his model a _super_car.

In a nanosecond he was off, gaining more speed with every inch he traveled, his spiked shield pointed straight at the line of drones. His hardened armor, combined with his speed and the gleaming spike, tore straight through the first drone, practically obliterating it's torso and sending the limbs flying everywhere. The others fared just as well.

"Knockout to base. Soundwave, I need a Groundbridge. NOW!"

Never one to ask question (_Thank Primus for that_) Soundwave instantly obliged. Before any of the new Autobots could respond, Knockout was rushing through. Before he was transported though, he did hear one last statement by the supercar.

"I am Sentinel Prime."

Dread filled Knockout as he arrived in New Kaon.

XxX

Location: Nevada

Time: 4 months after the destruction of the Autobot base.

System user: Arcee

Designation: Autobot

Arcee heard the Groundbridge open, less then sixty feet away, but it might as well have been on Cybertron for all the good it did. She was still surprised by Jack's order. Wait till he gave the command, then open fire?

At her side, Bumblebee was helping Smokescreen up, dragging him to a position from where he could also fire. Obviously, the two were intending to follow Jack's command. Arcee was just about to say something when she heard the sound of a massive gun being fired.

Turning around the corner of her cover, Arcee could see three new arrivals. All three were cars, though they didn't look anything alike. She thought she remembered one, but couldn't quite place it. But that wasn't important. What was important was that they were attacking the Decepticons! And, even more important, the gun on that pick-up was tearing through the Cons as if they were made of wet tissue paper.

It wasn't enough though; Knockout was already recovering from the shock and was organizing his offensive on the other side. Eight cons were down – all of the Skycons, she noted – but that still left over thirty standing. And generally speaking, the Vehicons were tougher to take down then the Skycons.

Just as the thought entered her mind – along with the realization that these new arrivals had first attacked all the flyers – she spotted a third arrival. '_Dreadwing!_' then she took a closer look and saw the off colors and, more importantly, the Autobot shield placed on it's wing. With a single attack from above, the Dreadwing-look-a-like destroyed or disabled half the Cons remaining.

"Autobots! Open fire, hold nothing back!"

It was the command they had been waiting for, though it didn't come from where she was expecting. Instead of Jack's voice, this was an unknown voice that still sounded familiar. It had come from that blue-and-grey car…

But eons of habit kicked in and the soldier in Arcee took over. Following commands granted victory, disobeying them cost a war. In one movement, Arcee jumped out of cover, turned both her hands into blasters and opened fire, Bee only a microcycle behind her. On the other side, Bulkhead also escaped cover and opened fire, while Smokescreen was using their cover as much needed support to stabilize his arms while he shot.

The Decepticon forces where decimated in seconds. A Groundbridge opened up, allowing Knockout to escape – the new 'Bot named Hotrod tried to go after him but was too late – just as the blue-and-grey battle commander turned to her.

"I am Sentinel Prime." Was all he said; It was all that he needed to say. All of Team Prime fell silent. There was another Prime? But how? Optimus had been the last one.

Seeing their faces, Sentinel raised a hand for further silence – not that it was needed – before turning around and blasting a combat drone that was trying to get to it's feet.

"I will explain everything back at the base. Ratchet, open the Groundbridge."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Preview for future chapters:

"**Knockout knows about Siera?" Arcee yelled in shock at her partner's statement.**

"**Arise," Ratchet said, his voice echoing through the chamber. Other voices could be heard, echoing from the very Matrix. Optimus' most prominent of all " Sentinel Prime."**


	2. Chapter 1

Transformers Prime: The Prime Factor

**Chapter 1**

**XXXXxxxxXXXXXXxxxxxxxXXXXXXX xxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXxxxxx  
**

Location: Unknown

Time: 1 minute after Groundbridging out of Autobot base

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots

Jack and Arcee had barely made it through the Groundbridge when it already closed behind them. It wasn't surprising, considering the situation. Time was of the essence. Arcee didn't waste any of it. As soon as her wheels made contact with the ground, she sped off. Neither Jack nor Arcee said anything, instead being devoured by their own thoughts.

"Where are we?" Jack finally found his voice after over an hour of hard riding. Despite the speed Arcee had been employing, they hadn't seen any signs of life for hours. There weren't even any signs, or a proper road.

"I'm not sure." Arcee finally answered, after what seemed like hours. "I didn't get a good look at where Ratchet was bridging us. And my location system isn't working either."

"What? Why not?"

"It was connected to the base." Was all she said.

More silence followed. For hours, Arcee simply devoured the road, driving towards the setting sun, neither human nor Autobot talking. Again, Jack broke the silence.

"Arcee, can we pull over?"

"What's wrong? Did you see something?"

"No. Nothing like that. I need a bathroom break." Jack felt his cheeks heat up at the embarrassing situation, but it still needed to be done. Arcee didn't say anything, simply slowed down and stopped near the first bush they found. When Jack reemerged, Arcee was in robot form and turned to face him.

"Can you call Fowler, or some other humans and have them tell us where we are? I've never seen such a no-man's land here on Earth. It… it reminds me of Cybertron."

"I can't." Jack took the extra time to stretch his legs. They were cramping up from staying in the same position so long. "When the cons took us, they took our phones. They left me my wallet, but anything metal or mechanical, they confiscated and destroyed."

"How did they get you anyway?" the question wasn't an accusation, but it was loaded with pain for the female robot. Up until that point, everything had been going perfectly. And then… Starscream holding Jack… threatening to kill him.

Optimus sacrificed Cybertron's future. It pained her to think about it. But she was a soldier, a warrior and by Primus she would know.

"At school," Jack simply said. "We were waiting for you guys and when you didn't show, we called Ratchet. He only said you were all busy and we wouldn't be picked up. We started talking about how we had been getting less involved lately, ever since Optimus found the Star Saber. A couple minutes later…"

xXx

Location: Jasper, Nevada, public high school

Time: 4 hours before destruction of Autobot base

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots

"Hey Jack." A familiar voice sounded from behind the trio. Jack could see Miko quickly hiding a snicker – she always found his interaction with Sierra to be highly amusing – while Raf gave a friendly wave.

"Sierra, hi!" Jack turned around, facing the redheaded girl with a slight smile. "How're you doing?"

"I'm doing good, was just saying goodbye to the rest of the squad. How're you? You're still here late, normally you're gone already. Not that I'm complaining!"

"I'm good, it's just… my usual ride isn't here yet. Ehm, yeah, the bike's in the shop, so… yeah. Waiting for someone to pick me up actually. Where're you going?"

"I'm going to spend the summer vacation at my aunt and uncle's." The redhead answered, "They live in LA. But if you want… I can give you a ride?"

Jack hadn't heard anything after Sierra had said 'summer vacation' though. He knew full well it was almost time for the summer vacation, but he didn't have any plans. He still had a day of school left. But that wasn't what had pulled his attention. It was the familiar, customized red car that pulled up to the parking lot that did.

'_What the hell is Knockout doing here?_'

Sierra apparently noticed his sudden reaction and followed his eyes.

"Wow, that is a cool car. Looks fast."

Knockout honked twice. At Jack's side, Miko and Raf also stiffened up. It was impossible to mistake that car for anyone or anything else.

"Wait here." Jack said, as much to Miko as to Sierra. Slowly, cautiously, he walked over to the Decepticon. As if to accommodate him, Knockout slightly lowered the driver's window. It was empty, naturally, but it kept up the illusion of a normal car, complete with driver.

"Hello Jack. Long time no see." Knockout started, "I'll make this very easy to understand. Starscream and several other fliers are on approach to bomb this little town, starting with your school. If you and those other two get in right now, we'll call off the attack. If not, say goodbye to your friends. You've got thirty seconds to decide."

"What?" was all Jack could exclaim, "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Twenty-five."

"Fine! We'll come."

"Smart boy, I knew you had it in you."

Turning to his friends, Jack put on a fake smile. Sierra was still standing there. He couldn't risk putting her in danger as well.

"Raf, Miko, our ride's here. Let's go, he's in a rush." Fortunately, they understood that they couldn't afford to fight him. The Autobots couldn't back them up and they had no means of fighting off Knockout either.

With a grimace and biting back a curse, Jack walked around and opened the passenger's door. The moment he sat down the seatbelts locked him in place, tighter then was necessary.

"By the way, Jack. I hope I wasn't… _interrupting_ anything." Knockout laughed as Raf and Miko got in, also being bound.

XxX

Location: Unknown

Time: Several hours after destruction of Autobot base.

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots

"Knockout knows about Sierra?" Arcee yelled in shock at her partner's statement.

"Yeah. He saw us talking and apparently, he still remembered her from that race as well. But there's nothing we can do. Right now, anonymity is her greatest protection. Knockout knows her face, not her name."

"Still, that makes her a target." Arcee was most definitely not amused. Another human was involved now? One that would appear on the Decepticons' radar. And now, there was no Optimus to save them anymore.

"Can you try to radio the others? See if we can get together?" Jack's voice drew her out of her thoughts.

"I've been trying while we drove, but the signal's too weak." At Jack's quizzical look, she elaborated. "Our radios work on certain frequencies. On Cybertron we could communicate from practically everywhere without a lot of trouble, but on Earth, there's a lot of interference. Radio programs, TV and internet broadcasts, natural patterns, ore deposits and a lot of other things. To fix that, Ratchet had built a signal booster. All our communications ran directly to the base, and from there it'd be transmitted to whoever we wanted to contact. But with the base destroyed…"

"You can't contact each other…"

"Not unless we're within a few dozen clicks of each other."

"Then… how are we going to meet up with the others?"

"We'll need to find some other way to contact them."

Determination grew within Jack, as well as the beginnings of a plan.

"Then we need to get to a city, or some other place where we can go online. If I can contact Fowler, he can make the rest of the arrangements."

"Then get on and let's go." Jack complied without complaint.

XxX

Location: Unknown town, California, USA

Time: Several hours after destruction of Autobot base.

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots

They came upon a small village an hour and a half later. And, even more fortunately, it had a public library with internet. Leaving Arcee parked just outside the library, Jack sent a quick message to Fowler.

_Agent Fowler, or whoever reads his email in his department_

_If you read this, I want to let you know I'm OK. I'm currently somewhere in California, riding my bike. I'm making my way to LA, but I lost my phone and most of my electronic cards after what happened this afternoon. I've got about thirty dollars with me in cash, so I'll be able to eat for tonight at least. I'm going to try and find a cheap hotel to stay at while I make my way to LA. I'm going to need some help to make it out of this mess. __Let__ me know asap._

_Jack __Darby._

Even if he was directly messaging Fowler, Jack didn't dare risk a mention of Arcee, or Cybertronians or even the Mech-term 'Transformers'. Fowler should get the hint about his bike though.

Even before he logged off, Fowler replied.

_Jack,_

_Glad to hear you're safe. Contacting you now. No names, no classified info._

Mere moments later Fowler appeared on the screen, apparently using his phone to video-call him. Right next to him, Jack could see his mother.

"MOM!" Jack immediately exclaimed. "You're safe! Where are you?"

"Jack, you're alive! You're ok! Oh thank god! I was so worried!" June said at the same time.

"We're going to have to keep this short." Fowler said, his voice all business. "Jack, keep heading to LA, when you get there, go to a bank and show them the numbers I'm about to send to you. They'll give you all the money you need to find a place to stay and buy a new phone. Contact me when you have it, and we'll work on getting everyone together. Do you know where the others went?"

"No, I don't." Jack answered. He had been too preoccupied to check that out, too busy with his own thoughts and fears to pay attention. "But there's something else. Are you guys still near Ja… my home?" remembering Fowler's no name rule, Jack altered his sentence mid-word.

"As a matter of fact, we are." Fowler said, "My copter was damaged, so we set it down and took cover from a patrol squad. We've been evading them and trying to find provisions and transport. Why?"

"There's something in my room you have to take with you." Jack's voice took on a sharp edge. "In my room, the third plank from my bed can be lifted. There's a small safe in there. Take the safe with you. it's contents are special."

"Will do. Now we have to go dark. Get to LA, go to the bank and contact me when you have a new phone."

Fowler gave him a quick salute, while June clearly mouthed 'I love you' to her son before the connection was terminated.

Still, Jack now had a goal.

XxX

Location: Los Angeles, California

Time: Two days after the destruction of the Autobot base

System user: Arcee

Designation: Autobot

Jack was restless, pacing through the hotel's parking lot. Arcee, still in her vehicle mode, could only watch and sympathize. They had arrived in this city yesterday afternoon and Jack had pulled over at the first bank they found. Three hours later he walked out with a new credit card and several thousand dollars in cash, courtesy of Fowler. Using the money, Jack had bought a new phone (the newest, best phone with an internet connection) and paid for their hotel.

But since then, nothing had happened.

The conversation with Fowler had been short and too the point; he had picked up Jack's safe and would keep it safe. He and June would also stay together for the moment as he was summoned to DC to take on an advising role. He still hadn't heard anything from the others.

Their safety was on both their minds. But so was another matter. The world knew about the Decepticons. Fowler could keep Jasper's evacuation quiet, he could probably even prevent anyone from discovering that massive fortress (New Kaon, Megatron had called it?), but the large energy beam that had hit the Earth was impossible to hide.

Yet most of the people here acted like nothing had happened. Arcee really couldn't believe it, but Jack simply said 'that's the big city.' If that was so, Arcee was more then happy she'd found Jack in a small town. It was quiet, yes, but people there actually noticed things and reacted to it.

But the source of both of their frustration had nothing to do with the inhabitants of the city, or their lack of reaction. It was the fact that they hadn't been doing anything. Already, Arcee could see the proper course of action, but she was reluctant to admit it. She knew what Optimus would do, what he would _expect_ them to do, but… it was hard.

"Listen, Jack…" Arcee started, glad that the parking lot was empty at the moment. "I need to tell you something." Her partner stopped his pacing and instead leaned down against her. "I've got to go and find the others."

"I know." Again, Arcee was reminded why he was her partner. He understood her with half a word, sometimes even knew what she was thinking. "And you want me to stay behind, right?"

"Need, not want." She returned. "Here, you're as safe as you can be. You're under another name, your government is protecting major cities like this first and you can blend in with the masses to prevent anyone from finding you. If I'm with you, it's like a light beacon to the Cons."

"I know. And you can go faster without me, no need for breaks…" He added. Really, it was the logical thing to do. It was what Optimus would have done. She hoped. But that didn't make it easy.

"Yeah." She could only agree.

"Fine then. I'll stay here. With Fowler's funding, I should be able to manage fine for a while at least. And I've got internet here, so I can try to make contact with Miko and Raf. Get them to come over here."

Arcee hummed at that. It was a good suggestion. They had earlier tested if Jack could call Arcee. The direct connection worked, once Arcee had tapped into the phone system, but they still lacked any means of contacting the others. And if Raf and Miko had as much trouble finding a civilized area as they did. Or if they didn't even consider going online.

Arcee shook those thoughts and materialized CeeDee, her holographic driver.

"I want you to call me every day to let me know what's happening. You understand?"

"Yes mom." He joked back

"I mean it, Jack". As he nodded, Arcee took off, in search of the rest of her team. In her spark, she prayed to Primus that this would be different from the other times she had split up from her partners.

XxX

Location: Los Angeles

Time: 4 days after the destruction of the Autobot base, 2 days after the departure of Arcee

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots

Putting away his phone, Jack couldn't stop a sigh. He had personalized the phone and would instantly get a message if anyone posted anything on his social media, send an email, a text or whatnot. Really, there was no need to check it. He had sent Raf and Miko a couple messages giving them his new phone number and telling him to contact him asap. Fowler had given him two more sets of numbers so the other kids could also get some money. Jack was really worried. How would they survive without any money?

Well, he was worried about Raf. For some reason, he couldn't imagine Miko and Bulkhead having any problem with surviving. Unlike him, his two friends could easily sleep in the back of their respective Autobots. And he didn't have a lot of trouble imagining that Miko would be able to steal some food, or pull a Dine & Dash.

Why was he thinking so badly about her?

Checking his phone again, as much to check the time as it was to check for updates, Jack thought how pathetic he must look. Checking his phone every three steps, only to put it away again. But it was lunchtime and Jack was getting hungry. Taking day-long hikes, especially along the beach, worked up his appetite.

So he sat down at the first place he could find. It wasn't crowded and it wasn't empty, there were a few people, some people ordering out and apparently, the waiters were all on roller-skates. (_movie-cliché much? Well, this IS LA after all._) One of the waiters, a friendly guy who made a quick chat with Jack took his order. His drink arrived a few moments later, while Jack was checking his phone again.

He was pulled back to reality when his food was brought.

"Jack?" a very familiar voice sounded stunned to see him. Jack was just as stunned to hear it. "What're you doing here?"

The person who had brought him his sandwich and salad combo (_mom really taught me to eat balanced!_) was none other then Sierra. On roller-skates. In a tight shirt. And tight pants.

Jack immediately turned beet-red. His mouth regained function after a few seconds of staring.

"Eating!" He finally said, "What're you doing here?"

She giggled before answering.

"Working. I told you I was going to LA for the summer right? My uncle and aunt live nearby and I always work this job in the summer. Why're you here?"

Suddenly their last conversation before Knockout had kidnapped him returned to his mind. He hadn't heard most of what she said then, but now he could remember it. But now he needed a reason for being in LA.

"Ehm… I'm kinda cruising." He finally said, unable to come up with a better excuse. "My work's shut down for the moment and I decided to… go cruising through the country on my bike."

'_Bad move Darby! Arcee's gone, remember?_' He instantly scolded himself. Sierra tried to ask another question, but Jack quickly followed himself up.

"Only… it's in the shop again, it kinda… fell?" he hoped the last part wasn't too obviously a lie.

"Your bike is cool and all, but… it's in the shop often, isn't it?" Before he could answer, though, Sierra was called over by another waiter. "Gotta go, but if you stick around a bit, we can chat later on. It usually quiets down after three."

"Sure." Jack supplied, but Sierra was already gone.

XxX

Location: Los Angeles

Time: 6 days after the destruction of the Autobot base, 4 days after Arcee left.

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots

Jack sat down at his now usual table as Sierra already made her way over. Ever since he had discovered that she worked here, he had been coming over for lunch and dinner. Breakfast was served at his hotel for free, so he ate there. He was in exceptionally good spirits today too. Raf and Miko had, finally, reported in.

Raf was in New Mexico and, with some aid from Bee, had found some distant uncle of his living there. The uncle, a bit of a recluse, had gladly taken him in without asking any questions and fed him, but didn't have internet. He'd left for work earlier that morning and Raf and Bee made a beeline for the nearest library. Jack had send them the info and Raf would buy a new phone immediately.

Miko had been in Wyoming and hating every second of it. As she wrote down, it actually made Jasper seem exciting, though Jack was pretty sure that was exaggerating. Still, she had survived by sleeping in Bulkhead and by either asking people for some food, or making a quick deal at a restaurant. She'd do some dishes, or work for a couple of hours, in exchange for food. But like Raf, it had taken her ages to find a place where she could use the internet. She was now staying with a young couple – who were apparently big anime fans, since she had described most of their posters with gusto – who were more then happy to allow her a place to sleep, a place at the table and access to the internet… in exchange for a few Japanese lessons.

Knowing his friends were safe was a big relief. But that still left the three without a human partner. Ratchet. Smokescreen. Optimus. He had also informed them that Arcee was already scouting the mainland and he had little doubt that Bulkhead and Bumblebee would do the same soon. Raf and Miko had also contacted Fowler and, like with Jack, he'd send in someone to extract them as soon as possible. But the system was a logistical mess, as he'd explained. All the military forces and police forces were being summoned to protect major cities, as well as patrol main roads.

"Well, you're certainly looking happy." Sierra smiled at Jack as she handed him the menu. Jack made it a point to order something new every day, but always something healthy. "I haven't seen you smile like that since you got to LA."

"Come on, I wasn't that bad was I?" Jack asked. He'd been much more comfortable around Sierra, though he was still far from a 'smooth operator'. Still, he could at least carry a conversation and tell a joke now.

"My colleagues were starting to refer to you as 'Scowly McCute.'"

"McCute?"

"Yeah… I kinda told them you work at a fast-food place back home. So, what's the big news? Why're you so smiley?"

"I just got a message from Miko and Raf." As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to stuff them back in. Sierra's smile instantly disappeared and her face fell. She'd also heard about the evacuation of Jasper. It had happened barely an hour after she left for LA and it had been a subject both of them had been avoiding.

'_Nice going Darby._' He scolded himself. But Sierra's smile returned a few seconds later. It didn't even look forced.

"That's great! So they're alright? Good to hear, must be a relief. Are they out of the shelter?"

"What shelter?" Jack hadn't heard anything about a shelter, but then again, he hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the news either.

"Everyone from Jasper is in a government shelter near the town. With the proximity to that alien tower, it's not safe to do a full extraction, but they're trying to get people out a couple at a time. Isn't your mom in there?"

"No. Actually, she's in DC." This was a lie he had thought out before. "She went to visit some friends of her while I was off. Figured it was as good a time as any."

"That's good. So everyone is safe then. My parents also made it out, they're somewhere in Vegas right now, probably having the time of their life." She giggled before turning around. But Jack hardly noticed. Instead, his eyes were drawn to the parking lot. A black and purple car had suddenly parked there. A car that didn't look all that special.

Except that Jack had seen dozens like them before. And had been chased by two of them on the day that changed his life.

Decepticons.

Here, in LA.

And they saw him talking to Sierra.

AGAIN.

But they didn't do anything other then stand there. While Jack felt a brick suddenly land in his stomach, he forced himself to act normal. When his food arrived, he still ate, but at the same time pulled up his phone. Fowler answered on the second ring.

"Fowl-"

"I'm made." Jack interrupted before the agent could say his name. Fowler seemed to consider his next words for a second then answered. "Where're you right now?"

"Enjoying the sunshine on the beach, looking out at the famous big blue sign. Nothing's really going on here right now, but you know how this city. It's able to turn into a battlefield any second." Hopefully Fowler understood what he meant. If the Con was listening in on his call – as it likely was – the only hope for deceiving it (_Really? Deceiving a Decepticon? WHY was he thinking in puns right now?_) was using vague references and Earth-culture.

"Don't believe everything you see in movies son." Fowler responded. "Most Bourne and Bond copies are not, in fact, ordered to kill everything they see. More often then, those kinda guys have orders to observe and report, not destroy. You should really consider a career in the military, you know that? Gives you some perspective on what's real and what's not. Anyway, when you're finished, take the subway back. I hear there're delays with the busses. See you soon."

It might not have been the most subtle of deceptions, but Jack hoped it would work. And Fowler's suggestion had been a good one. Going into the subway, he would escape the Con's sight and be able to travel freely. There'd be no telling at what stop he got off. Sierra brought his food, as always, but this time Jack just couldn't continue a conversation. He was pretty sure she asked what was wrong and he only replied with a 'nothing' but she must have gotten the message because she left soon after.

Finishing his food, Jack quickly looked up the nearest subway entrance. It was a couple blocks away, roughly fifteen minutes of walking. All through heavily populated areas. Having paid his bill – again, mostly ignoring Sierra, who was now looking thoroughly confused at his behavior and quick departure – Jack made his way. As he walked, his mind was still raging.

'_Why is there a Con here? Megatron hasn't been attacking any major cities._ _Why now? Is he looking for me? Or did he simply find me by chance?_' The news had kept most of it quiet, but Jack knew better; Megatron and his forces had attacked several smaller settlements and had even had a couple quick skirmishes with the army. All ended the same. The Cons destroyed anything in their way.

Fighting the urge to turn back every other step and see if the black-and-purple car was following him, 'Jack instead used the myriad of windows and mirrors scattering the road to keep an eye behind him. It was still following him, keeping a slow but steady pace.

'_Fowler was right then, he's here to scout, not start an offensive. I must have been a lucky catch for him_' Still, that did nothing to sooth his nerves. Finally, after the longest minutes of his life, Jack found the subway entrance. He glanced in the large mirror as he walked down the steps. The Decepticon, realizing what was happening, kept driving, kicking his speed up a notch.

He'd escaped.

For now.

XxX

Location: Los Angeles

Time: 7 days after the destruction of the Autobot base, morning.

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots

Jack had taken no less then five detours on his way back to the hotel, then went into a shopping mall and came out looking completely different (hoodie, cap, sunglasses, baggy jeans and combat boots, as opposed to his usual t-shirt, jeans and sneakers) before returning. As soon as he was in the room, he had contacted Fowler.

The special agent praised his caution and intel, but said that extraction would still cost at least two days. Then, in the morning, Jack's phone rang again.

"Hey Jack, it's me, Sierra. I've got the day off, want to hang out?" Jack had almost forgotten that he had given her his new number. Back in Jasper, before he had been kidnapped, it was the kind of thing he was hoping for. Now, it was an afterthought. But still he answered before thinking.

"Yeah, sure."

"Great! What'd you say we meet at my work, and then enjoy the weather at the beach?"

'_The beach?_' Jack thought, instantly perked up. '_Sierra in a bikini… just the two of us… Sierra in a bikini!_'

"Let's meet in, say, an hour? Yeah? Great, see you there." Jack was locked in a daze for a few seconds, when his phone rang again.

"Yeah?" the excitement was still clearly heard in his voice. '_Sierra in a bikini!_'

"It's me. We've had a lucky break." Fowler started, "I've arranged for your extraction, it'll happen in about four and a half hours."

"Really?" (_Fowler, you have timing… in four and a half h__ours__ I could still be sitting on the beach. With Sierra in a bikini!_) "Where'll they pick me up?"

"Where're you going?" Surprise was obvious in the Special Agent's voice, "I thought you said you were going to stay in your room for the whole day?"

"I just got a phone call from Sierra and she kinda shanghaied me into going to the beach with her…" Jack felt incredibly sheepish saying it like that, his cheeks heating up.

"And I'm sure you put up a big fight, right?" This time Fowler was outright teasing him. "No worries, I'll contact the extraction, they can pick you up from the beach. Just make sure you have your phone, cards and money with you."

"Got it."

"Oh and Jack…" Fowler added, his voice once again rather sly, "Do try to enjoy yourself, but keep it decent. Wouldn't do for your extraction to have to come and pick you up from jail, right?"

Beet-red in the face, Jack hung up as he heard Fowler start laughing.

XxX

Location: Los Angeles

Time: 7 days after the destruction of the Autobot base, late afternoon.

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots

Jack's hopes hadn't been disappointed. Sierra was indeed wearing a bikini and it was everything Jack had ever hoped it to be. The only thing that was missing from this fantasy was a sudden, unexplainable reason for them to start kissing… but Jack stopped his thoughts from going there.

Next to him, Sierra was lying on her towel, soaking in as much of the sun as she could. Jack had, in fact, helped her with the sun cream. He had nearly jumped to Cybertron and back when she asked him to do that. He had already done it three times now, actually. Every time after they had a swim, he'd been asked to reapply the cream.

Sierra suddenly raised her head, looking at a trio that was marching onto the beach. They looked completely out of place. No swim clothes, but jeans and tight shirts. As well as several visible tattoos, a couple of piercings and a baseball cap. Jack instantly registered them as a cliché gang of tough guys.

He was right.

"Yo dweeb." On of them, who had dragon tattoos on his arms (_seriously? Dragon tattoos?_) spoke up. "Your name Darby?"

The fact that they knew his name made every hair on Jack's body stand on end. Any and all thoughts of Sierra and sun cream were bumped out. How did they know him? Next to him, Sierra's eyebrows shot up, curiosity obvious on her face.

"Why're you asking?" Jack answered, purposefully ignoring the real question.

"'Cause if you are, someone over there wants to have a word with you." Dragon-tat said, pointing over his shoulder. Following the finger, Jack felt his heart skip a couple beats. There, in the parking lot, was a black-and-purple Decepticon.

"And if I'm not him?" reaching to his side, Jack took hold of his bag. It had some heavy stuff in there, bottles of soft drinks they'd brought along. He could use it as a bludgeon if need me.

"Then we tell him it's not you. None of my business. Dude in the car just asked us a favor."

With that the trio turned back, threw a wave towards the Decepticon and continued walking.

"Wow, That's a cool car. What is it with you and cool vehicles?" Sierra piped up, her eyes switching between Jack and the car. Jack hardly heard her.

"Wait here." He said, shouldering his bag as he made his way over. He checked the time. still twenty minutes before his extraction would arrive. He could buy that much time. Probably.

Walking as slow as he could, Jack took nearly two minutes to reach the car in question. Any second he spent walking was another second he bought. Unable to delay it any further, he stood in front of the car. Like Knockout had done a week ago, it lowered it's window. Jack walked over.

"You know this drill, I think." The Decepticon Drone's voice sounded. "Get in or I start wrecking havoc."

'_You?_' Jack thought, thinking back to last week. Knockout had threatened his entire hometown. '_He doesn't have backup._' Jack suddenly realized. The thought made him bold. He could stall, buy time.

"And how would you do that?" Jack said, hoping his voice was more confident then his thoughts, "You transform here, the military will be on you in a minute. They'll tear you to pieces."

"And before they arrive, I'll have killed you and any other humans in the area."

Again, Jack listened carefully. '_He's not threatening Sierra specifically. He's threatening people in general. He doesn't know about her!_'

"That's what you think." Jack said, looking around. There! A police cruiser. "Catch me if you can."

Dropping his bag, having already put his phone, wallet and money his pockets – which, thankfully, were already dried up after his latest swim – Jack turned and ran. Straight towards the police cruiser. The Decepticon muttered a clearly-heard 'Scrap!' before it raced after him. At his sudden acceleration, the violation of at least a dozen traffic rules when the Con raced after jack on the sidewalk, instead of driving on the road, the police cruiser's sirens burst to life.

What followed was nothing short of chaos.

The Decepticon clearly hadn't expected the sudden lights and sound, so it was distracted. Jack quickly stepped to the side, making the car following him crash into a streetlight. The pole broke under the impact, sending the tall metal construction fall over, in the street. Straight atop another car, crushing the roof on impact. Meanwhile, the people looked up, saw the crashing lights and started screaming. Jack took a quick look at the ruined car, happy that it was parked and empty, before continuing his run.

Just around the corner, he stopped and hid, keeping an eye on the Con. It hadn't moved since the streetlight had fallen. The cops had stepped out of their car, one of them cautiously making his way over to the still Vehicon. He pulled open the door, expecting to find heavily injured, possibly intoxicated drivers. Instead, he found nothing.

"Da Hell?" The cop shouted. "Hey, this car is empty! Who the hell drove it into that pole? I didn't see anyone leave."

Before his partner could answer, the Drone answered and the chaos magnified tenfold.

"I DID!" It shouted as it transformed into robot form. Jack felt fear take him over. Sure, he'd seen these guys before and the Autobots could take them down dozens at a time, but he was no Autobot. There were no Autobots present. Anywhere.

People shouted all over the street at the sight. The Decepticon seemed to enjoy it, stomping on a nearby car for good measure, before firing an Energon blast at the police cruiser. It exploded. The cop standing behind his car was sent flying. People fell to the ground with burns, or open wounds. At least two had pieces of metal pierce parts of their body.

Jack joined the others, screaming in fear.

The Decepticon laughed.

'_That's it._' Jack finally thought. '_He wants me, he'll get me._' He had called the Decepticon's bluff… and it had backfired spectacularly. His priority was the get Jack, not to stay stealthy. As he stepped out of cover, Jack saw that the Vehicon launched another blast, this time at a building behind Jack. Again, the blast exploded on impact, launching debris everywhere.

More screams of terror.

'_No more._' Without knowing what good it'd do, Jack walked to the fallen policeman's body. It was covered in burns, but no other injuries. Jack could still see the face. No grimace of pain, but a look of surprise. At the Decepticon's feet, his partner had apparently recovered enough to pull out his gun and shoot. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the Cybertronian armor.

Jack pulled the fallen officer's gun out of his holster. Miraculously, it was still intact. Now armed, but still feeling terror like nothing he had ever felt, Jack stepped out into the street. The Decepticon fired off another blast, this time at a nearby car, before it noticed him. it stepped towards him.

Jack raised the gun. The large robot laughed, remembering that the other human's weapon had done nothing to it. Jack fired. The bullet bounced away, not even leaving a scratch. Another round. The same effect. Another. No damage.

"Lord Megatron ordered me to retrieve you." The Decepticon finally said, laughter clear in his voice, "he never said you needed to be alive… or in one piece." With that, he pointed his blaster at Jack. Jack had a perfectly good view of the Energon charging up. That Energon was the only thing present that could hurt a Cybertronian. Energon that was extremely volatile.

Energon that, when weaponized, exploded on contact with anything _not_ Energon.

Not knowing where the idea came from, Jack shot straight at the blaster. The bullet's impact with the energy caused an instant explosion. It blew the Con's arm apart, sending it flying to the side, crashing into a building.

In Jack's mind, all the chaos stopped, even for a second. For a second, there was supreme silence as he thought.

'_I did it? Is he dead?_'

Then time seemed to return to normal, the shouts and chaos returned and the Decepticon proved Jack's hopes wrong as it stood up from where it had landed. But his right arm, the arm he had been using as a blaster, was damaged beyond use.

And the Con looked _pissed!_

Not making the same mistake twice, the Con didn't turn his left arm into a blaster, but instead tried to punch Jack. The human teen, seeing the attack coming, ran to the side just enough to escape it. Just as the Con was about to pull back for a second strike, they were interrupted.

HONK! HONK!

The sound was as unexpected, seeming to drown out all the shouts, as it was welcome. Jack and the Decepticon both turned to look at the source of the sound. Right behind the Decepticon.

Jack's heart soared into his throat.

"SMOKESCREEN!" He shouted as the familiar white racing car, with the double thirty-ones on his side came into his sights. But Screen didn't transform. Instead, he raced towards the Con, then pulled into a tight donut-spin, knocking one of it's legs out. With the Con misbalanced, the white car continued it's spin and slammed into the robot again, easily knocking it over.

Smokescreen screeched to a halt right in front of Jack, his door already open.

"Get in!" The familiar, enthusiastic voice sounded. Jack didn't wait a second. As soon as he sat down, Smokescreen raced off. The Decepticon, seeing his target leave, transformed back into vehicle mode and quickly pursued.

"Where're you going?" Jack asked as Smokescreen raced through the streets. The Con was hot on his tail, but Jack knew Smokescreen could go much faster then this.

"Luring him out of the city before I take him out." The former Elite Guard replied, "I'm not fighting that con in a heavily populated area!"

"Good thinking!" Jack agreed, his heart still racing, almost unable to believe that he'd survived. "How'd you find me?"

"Fowler." Smokescreen replied. "I've been getting myself captured on every traffic cam I came across and pulled over a couple times, asking for Fowler every time. I finally got connected to him this morning. I asked him to point me in your direction."

"Why?"

"I'll explain in a bit. Right now, let's take care of this Con!" looking outside, Jack saw that they had indeed left most of the city behind – he didn't want to consider what kind of speeds Smokescreen had been employing to leave a metropolis like LA behind in minutes – and the Con was just behind them. Smokescreen slowed down in an instant, nearly giving Jack a whiplash, before the door opened.

"Get out, I'll deal with him. Better find some cover though." Jack quickly followed the advice, jumping over a nearby rock as the Decepticon arrived and quickly transformed. Smokescreen did the same, but there was something vastly different from normal. As soon as Smokescreen transformed, there was a massive hammer in his hands.

A hammer Jack had heard the Autobots speak of, but had never seen. The Forge of Solus Prime.

The Decepticon, failing to see the weapon, realized it too late. Smokescreen brought the weapon around as soon as he was transformed and instantly crushed the Con's head. His chest followed on a second strike. The Decepticon was dead in a split second.

"Why do you have the Forge with you?" Jack suddenly found himself asking. As far as he knew, the Decepticons held the forge! But it would explain how Optimus had regained the Star Saber.

"Optimus gave it to me before I left." Smokescreen said, turning back into his vehicle mode. Jack assumed that left the Forge in his trunk. "Told me that I had to give it to you. He said you'd know what to do with it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Previews for future chapters:

"**Greetings, Lord Megatron. I have returned." Shockwave gave a deep bow to his lord and master. **

"**Son, do you really think it's so important that we saved your stash of porn?" Jack's face turned red at Fowler's words.**

"**Lord Megatron!" Knockout entered with a bow, "It is done, as you requested. We shall never have to worry about Energon again."**

**A/N:  
**

**This chapter is beta'd by my good friend and loyal beta, Kushin eX. found any mistakes or have criticism for the story? Let me know via review.  
**


	3. Chapter 2

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Location: several miles outside Los Angeles

Time: 7 days after the destruction of the Autobot base

System user: Smokescreen

Designation: Autobot, subgroup: Elite Guard.

"Wait, what?" Jack was as surprised as Smokescreen had been, when Optimus gave him the sacred relic. "How am I supposed to know anything about it? I've never even seen it!"

"I'm the messenger here Jack. Optimus said you'd know." Smokescreen answered. "But anyway, let's hurry up. We've got places to be. Fowler's expecting us."

"In DC?" Jack asked, more then a little surprised. "You want to drive all the way there?"

"Nah, Fowler's made arrangements for a place that's a little closer by." Smokescreen laughed at the suggestion. "He's not there in person yet, but he's set up a temporary base. I'm moving to the coordinates now. Following the road and rules, it should take us about four hours to get there. We'll be there in two."

Jack let out a laugh at Smokescreen's arrogance as his phone went off.

"Are you alright?" Sierra shouted as soon as he picked up. "I am so worried, what happened just now? But it was awesome, the way you blew that robot up! What was that thing? And who was driving that super-cool car that you escaped in? Are you ok?"

"Sierra, yeah, I'm fine. Are you ok?" Smokescreen could feel Jack relax when she confirmed, before he turned rigid again. Smokescreen couldn't understand; wasn't it a good thing that the girl was safe? He'd heard some of the stories around the base, especially when Miko was retelling them to Bulkhead. He'd always found them amusing.

"Listen, I've got to stay away for a bit." Jack continued; interrupted Smokescreen's train of thought. "Try to stay out of sight. It'll be safer that way. Yes, I'm alright. Don't worry. My driver is taking me to a protective custody."

"REALLY?" Sierra nearly squealed (_she sounds like an excited Miko! Do all human girls have that?_) as she shouted again, "That is sooooo cool! Why does that robot want you? Did you lose it? When can I see you again?"

"I don't know why that thing wants me, yes we lost it and we'll see each other again as soon as all this blows over." Jack said, before terminating the connection.

"I like her." Smokescreen added his two cents as soon as the conversation ended.

"That's just because she said you're a cool car."

"Which I totally am."

XxX

Location: classified. Human government (subgroup: USA) military base

Time: 7 days after the destruction of the Autobot base. Approximately three hours since first contact between Decepticon forces and major human population in _Los __Angeles__, California_.

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with the Autobots.

"Come on Jack, time to wake up." Smokescreen called out as the neared the coordinates. "We're nearly there."

"Yeah?" Jack stretched and yawned as much as the interior of the car allowed. Smokescreen may be built for speed, but he didn't have a lot of space! "Good. Hey, I know this place!"

And as they neared the refinery just ahead, Jack quickly realized just why he remembered it. He had never been here in person, but he'd seen it from several security cameras. He'd seen the impressive fight.

It had been the last known MECH base, before Optimus had dealt them a crippling blow by destroying Nemesis. It was where Agent Fowler had met Silas face-to-face and fought him. It was the site of MECH's first real defeat.

So, why exactly was it now a military base?

Before Jack could voice any questions, though, three military vehicles drove over and formed a roadblock.

"Identify yourself." A soldier shouted over a megaphone, "You are about to enter a restricted area."

"That's your cue." Smokescreen said as he opened the door. Taking a deep breath, Jack stepped out; both hands raised, and spoke up.

"I'm Jack Darby, Special Agent Fowler told me to get over here." Immediately the guns were lowered and the barricade opened up. One of the soldiers walked over.

"We've been expecting you." The soldier said, standing next to Jack, "But we still had to check. You're allowed in and Fowler wants to speak to you as soon as the others have arrived. You can go inside, along with your car, but please remember that you are entering a classified facility. All outgoing communications will be scrambled, so your only outgoing communication will be via a hard-line. Also, please refrain from touching any of the equipment."

An hour later, Jack was making himself quite comfortable in a large lunch room, holding a large cup of coffee and sitting in a large sofa. He'd asked around and apparently, he was only the first of three guests they were expecting. Jack didn't need to guess who the other three were. Miko joined him almost an hour later, just as Jack was beginning to nod of to dreamland again.

Reunited with his friend, Jack immediately jumped up and hugged her, the energetic girl eagerly returning the gesture. Bulkhead was waiting just outside, she already said, and pulled him out. The big, green machine looked to be in perfect state: they hadn't encountered any Cons, much to Miko's disappointment. She was in the middle of telling her story – currently giving a detailed account of how she had landed a one-afternoon job as a dishwasher and how absolutely disgusting that was – when another highly familiar yellow-and-black car pulled up.

Raf hadn't even gotten out of the car before he was jumped. And almost as quickly, they jumped back when they smelt his sweater. It was huge, almost as big as he was, and it _smelled_!

"Don't look at me like that!" Raf quickly defended himself. "It's my uncle's. I told you guys he's… odd."

Raf's appearance, combined with his now red face, caused all three teens to start laughing, starting as a chuckle of Jack's, before escalating until all three were doubled over laughing. Even the three Autobots standing around them were joining in the laughter, until a soldier walked over.

"Special Agent Fowler is on for you." With that short statement, he turned around and marched, signaling for them to follow. Almost as soon as they followed him into the room, they saw the large screen – easily a forty-inch – that was displaying Fowler.

"Good, you're all there. That's a relief." Only now that he saw him on a larger screen then his phone did Jack realize that Fowler looked… worn. He had bags under his eyes, his hair was a mess and he was actually missing his tie.

"Are you ok?" Miko asked, "You look kinda… tired."

"I've been working around the clock here, it's a madhouse." Fowler responded, "But I'll be fine. This is the kind of thing I was trained for. Listen up. I've got a lot to tell you and little time to do so. First things first; I've secured all of your families in secured facilities. Miko, your foster parents are still at the Jasper general shelter, but they should be safe. Raf, your parents were the first pulled out of there and are, in fact, on the base with you. Jack, your mom is still here in DC, she's safe."

"Glad to hear it." Miko sighed. She didn't enjoy being with her foster parents, sure, but that didn't mean she didn't like them. Or wanted them hurt. It was Raf that was almost tearing up.

"Mamma is here?" Jack and Miko immediately put an arm around their younger friend and returned their eyes to the screen.

"Second, the Cons have indeed declared war on Earth and Humanity." Fowler continued, "Megatron seems to favor scare-tactics at the moment, attacking small settlements, destroying them and then leaving before we can recover. It's obvious he's gather intel on how we respond. But thanks to Jack here, I've also learned that he's been sending in scouts to major cities."

"That was just one scout." Jack returned, as Miko and Raf looked at him in surprise. He hadn't told them about his week in LA yet.

"True, but I gave some orders and had some traffic cams pulled. We've got confirmation of Decepticon scouts in New York, LA, Vegas and even on here in DC. And from the reports I'm getting, they're appearing in all the major cities of the world. Megs is up to something and he's checking out our cities before he strikes."

"Agent Fowler, how is LA? After what happened…" Jack cautiously asked. It had been another fear that he didn't want to admit, but he would have to.

"The Con encounter in LA ended as smoothly as we could have hoped." Fowler sighed, "A total of four casualties, three of which were civilians and around twenty-five people injured. Three of whom were serious, but are already stabilized. The collateral damage is mostly minor. Thanks to your quick action and Smokescreen's timely arrival. You did good, son."

"What happened?" Raf and Miko asked at the same time. Jack gave them a quick look and said, "I'll tell you guys later."

"Right, now here comes the hard part." Fowler continued, "We still don't know where Ratchet is. Jack's the only one with a direct line to Arcee and I want her to report in to this base ASAP. We've build a backup of the original signal booster here, so once all the Bots are synched in, their communications should return just fine. And from there, we can start working against the cons."

"What about Optimus?" Raf asked, "Did you find him?"

"No, I'm guessing he's either with Ratchet…" Fowler took a deep breath before continuing, "Or he was still inside the base when it blew. We all knew Prime; he wouldn't want the Decepticons to have a chance at following. And he wouldn't have ordered anyone else to stay behind and destroy the controls. I'm not saying he did it, for all we know he fired a blast just as he jumped through the Bridge, but… it's a possibility we have to consider."

Jack immediately felt his previously good mood disappear. It was possible, but… this was Optimus! He couldn't die! Could he?

"What's the plan for finding Ratchet?" He finally asked, breaking the silence. "And fighting the Cons."

"We'll have to cooperate closely with the Bots, which is why I want Arcee back at this base. It's as safe a location as we're going to get. MECH's tech is around and allowed us to build a handful of weapons that could take out a Con, if need be. You three are going to be staying here. But we'll need the Bots out there, looking for the Doc Bot and striking the Cons wherever they can."

"What?" Miko shot up out of her seat as she shouted, "You want to split us up from our Bots?"

"Yes." Fowler's reply was icily calm. "I've been thinking of a counter plan for a week now, but they all depend on the Autobots helping us out. They're the only ones with the firepower to take out a squad of Cons. And they can't carry you into a fight, it's far too dangerous. So, while we keep you three safe, the Bots go out and kick some Con tailpipe. King Con himself hasn't appeared on the field, only sending his lackeys out. He's not going out to strike us in force, but he's using fear as his first weapon. Entire towns disappear in a matter of hours, before we can even mobilize our armies."

"So, what do we do?" Miko sat down again.

"You don't do anything just yet. I want Jack to figure out why Prime gave him that mallet, and I want the Bots out there, ready to reply to any Con attack, until we can get the Doc-Bot back. He can build us another Groundbridge, which'll give us a fighting change. Without a Groundbridge, we simply can't attack them fast enough."

"Agent Fowler, I don't know why Optimus would give me the Forge, I really don't. What can I do with it?"

"Son, you didn't know what that key he gave you last year was for, but it was key in bringing him back. Prime has a plan, let's put some faith in it. He's not let us down yet. Now, I'll be busy here for the next few days, but I should be able to come over to the base and start managing the counter-offensive in person in about four days."

"When you come here…" Jack started,

"I'll bring your safe and your mom. But Jack…"

"Yeah?"

"Son, do you really think it's so important that we saved your stash of porn?" Jack's face turned red at Fowler's words. Both Miko and Raf turned to Jack, Raf's face aghast, while Miko looked like she was about to burst out laughing.

"Just bring the safe and everything in it." Jack repeated, his face incredibly red as Miko was doubling over laughing. "You'll see when you get here."

"Right. Oh and one more thing. Hand over your phones to a techie at the base; he'll be over in a few seconds. He'll add some encryptions and updates, secure your lines. That way, we'll be able to talk freely when you call. And you should be able to contact the Bots even when you're inside the base. Let's get the search and counter started."

"About that…" Raf started, looking up at the screen again, "We don't have any idea on where to find Ratchet, right? But if he was bridged out of base, shouldn't we be able to find his original location based on the Bridge's energy emission?"

"What're you on about son?"

"Well, the Groundbridge uses large amounts of Energon, doesn't it? So, if it opens, we might be able to detect the buildup via the satellites. We could track where Ratchet went."

"Good thinking! And, we might even be able to use it to predict where the cons are going to strike. Raf, as it is, you are our number one expert on Groundbridging, I want you to help out some of the scientists in the lab, calibrate their scanning systems for Energon markings. Fowler out."

With that, the screen went dark.

XxX

Location: classified. Human government (subgroup: USA) military base

Time: 8 days after the destruction of the Autobot base, early morning.

System user: Nakadai Miko (cultural difference in naming taken into account)

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots.

Note: thoughts are translated from Japanese.

Miko was still reeling with excitement at the news broadcast she had seen the evening before. Jack had been reluctant to talk about what had happened in LA, but one of the soldiers said it was all over the news. They sat down and watched and Miko nearly felt her jaw drop.

Jack had taken down a Con!

With only a handgun!

That he'd taken from a cop!

JACK!

It was soo freaking awesome she could hardly believe it'd happened. And he tried to deny it. Sometimes, he was such a dweeb. But thinking about the Cons, even if it was just how badass Jack had taken one down, made Miko think of something else.

Bulk was leaving today. Along with the others, of course, but Bulk's departure would hurt her the most. They were scheduled to leave in the afternoon, after they had all been synched up with Fowler's new communication device.

At least she'd be able to talk to him whenever she wanted.

Ignoring those thoughts as best she could, Miko did her best to put her happy face back on. She couldn't see Bulk and the others off with a sad face, after all. Just as she did though, she heard the base-wide alarm go off.

"Attention all personnel, attention all personnel!" It sounded from the many speakers around the base, "A nearby civilian population is under alien attack. Repeat; a nearby civilian population is under alien attack. Prepare for combat."

'_Cons!_'

That'd mean Bulk and the others would roll out soon to kick some tailpipe! She'd have to hurry up if she was going to see them off. Just as she ran out into the parking lot of the base, where the three Autobots were supposed to be parked, she noticed that Smokescreen wasn't around.

'_Where is he? Bulk can handle any con on his own, but he appreciates backup!_'

A moment later, Smokescreen and Jack came driving up from somewhere else on the base. Raf sitting in the backseat. So, they'd gone to pick up the techno-wizard. Raf had spent all day since their video-call with Fowler in the labs, helping out how he could.

"We're back!" Jack said as he got out of the car. "And the Forge is safe, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Great." Bulkhead said, his headlights flashing up for a second. "Now Jack, Raf, keep an eye on Miko for me. Do not allow her off the base! We'll go see if we can stop those cons!"

"Please do." Jack's voice held a sudden, added urgency now. "I just heard from one of the soldiers that there are civilians from Jasper near there. It's one of the towns they were using to house the people extracted from the Jasper shelter."

"Got it. See you guys soon."

With that, Bulkhead and the other Autobots turned around and drove off.

XxX

Location: unknown town, Nevada. Twelve miles out of Las Vegas

Time: 8 days after the destruction of the Autobot base, early morning. 0.5_ hour(s) prior to Decepticon attack_.

System user: Vincent Dicolleta, commonly referred to as 'Vince'

Designation: Human – Allegiance unknown.

"Are you completely insane!?" Father shouted, making Vince wince, "You saw that tower! Why the hell did you go back to Jasper, JUST TO GET YOUR GODDAMN CAR!"

"But dad,"

"DON'T YOU BUT ME!" Father immediately returned, "NOT ONLY DID YOU PUT YOURSELF IN DANGER, BUT YOU MADE YOUR SISTER DRIVE YOU THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE? GIVE ME ONE REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T TRASH THIS DAMN THING RIGHT NOW MYSELF!"

"I… I didn't just get my car." Vince tried to defend himself, but he felt really, really tiny at the moment. It didn't help that while Vince was no wimp himself, his father was a good two heads bigger, weighed almost twice as much and was pure muscle.

Not to mention that he had a very, very short fuse for his explosive temper. It was one of the reasons Jasper had so little crime; no-one wanted to be on this particular cop's bad side. That, and he was actually a pretty damn good investigator. According to people who actually paid attention to that kind of thing. Vince never did.

"Then what, pray tell, did you also take? What the HELL was worth risking not only your own life, but also your sister's?!"

"Grandpa's watch and grandma's jewels." Vince said, glad to see that his dad had calmed down. "I got them out, along with some of the other family stuff. They're in my trunk!"

"Son…" Father started, "I'm glad you got my dad's stuff, but it is not worth risking your life over. They're just goods! Material stuff. And you even involved your sister in it! Don't give me that look, young lady, we're going to have a talk about this when I'm done with your brother! All for some antique things and your stupid car?"

"It's not stupid…"

"It is! Risking your life and your sister's for those things was stupid! You're lucky you got out alive at all. And I know why you got that car. Well, I've been far too lenient with you so far. It's time I stop closing my eyes to your misdeeds. You take part in another illegal street-race again and I swear, whether or not you're my son, I will arrest you!"

That statement nearly made Vince's jaw drop. _Dad knows!_ But how? He'd never said anything about his racing at home, he'd always made sure his car was undamaged by the time he got back…

"Dear, I think we all need to calm down a little." Mother interrupted. She'd been silent while Father had said his piece, as always, and only spoke up when he had finished his tantrum. "I think the kids know that what they did was wrong, but they came back alright, didn't they? That's the most important part. So, let's just be grateful for that."

"Yeah!" Jennifer supplied quickly, "Vince and I had it, like, totally under control daddy! We were, like, super-careful and even left my car out of town. We walked the rest of the way and there was no way anyone could have seen us. When we go to the house, we just grabbed our stuff, got in Vince's car and got out of there! It didn't even take us an hour. And it was, like, totally dark, so even if someone saw us, they wouldn't see us, you know!"

"E-exactly!" Vince quickly jumped in. Dad had always had a soft spot for Jen, whom he treated like his little princes. Normally, Jack never agreed with his sister but if it was to escape Dad's wrath… it was definitely the lesser of two evils.

"Still doesn't excuse you two from doing something incredibly dangerous, just to get some pathetic trinkets back! Vince! You obviously thought this whole thing out, so here's your punishment. You drive that car, even an inch from where it's standing now, I will personally take a sledgehammer and smash it to pieces. You understand me? We're going to put the roof on the car when we're done, then you will not drive it – or any other vehicle! – until you have my permission again. Understood!"

"Yes dad…"

"And you, Jennifer!" the fact that he was about to issue a punishment to Jen, his little princess, shocked nearly everyone at the table. "I expected better of you then to go along with such an idiotic plan. You put yourself and your brother in great danger. So, for you, the worst punishment I can think of; you're grounded for the next three weeks. No internet, no phone – other than a hard line – and no going out to party with all your girlfriends. Understood!"

"BUT DADDY!"

"No buts!" Father instantly interrupted his daughter's protest. "This should make it obvious just how wrong you both were."

With that, he left the room, closing the door behind him. Vince and Jen both let out a sad sigh, but Mother seemed downright cheerful.

"Well, that could have gone a lot worse." She announced as she stood up, "And I'm glad you both are alright. But really, I'm so very disappointed in both of you. To disregard not only your own safety, but each other's… I thought we raised the both of you better than that."

As both Vince and Jen were still somewhat stumped, she too left the room, leaving both her children red with shame. Their dad's anger was one thing. Sit out the punishment and shouting and that would be it. But for some reason, the disappointment of their mom was always much more annoying.

"Ah man, this is the worst." Jennifer complained as she leaned back in her chair. "How am I going to survive this? Three weeks of complete social isolation? No fair!"

"As if that's so bad. You're almost always home anyway."

"Yeah, but I'm always texting and chatting with the others. Just because I don't leave the house, doesn't mean I don't hang out with others. This is gonna suck…" Another dramatic sigh. Vince let out one as well.

"Oh, don't be like that. It's not like you really lost anything!" The tone, downright condescending, struck a nerve with Vince as it always did.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vince answered with venom.

"Just that we both know your car is hardly worth anything. I mean, it might _look_ cool and fast, but it gets owned every time."

"No it doesn't! I hardly ever lost a race and you know it! You promised to keep quiet about it, but you still told dad!" The accusation was easily made. Jennifer was the only one in his family that knew about his hobby.

"No, I didn't." She immediately denied, "I never told dad anything about your stupid racing. But I didn't _need_ too. It's all over Jasper, ever since you got your ass handed to you by that Darby-kid three times in a row."

"What? Darby never kicked my ass! Who told you that lied."

"A lie is it? Then how do you explain the rumors – with a picture to prove it, no less! – about Darby leaving you in the dust in a race? Isn't it true that you challenged him to impress Sierra, got denied until you insulted his bike, at which point he proceeded to make you _eat his dust!_ Or how, in an attempt to get even, you challenged him to a race the next day. A real race. With about a dozen other cars."

Vince could barely hold back a gasp. How'd she hear about that? Who'd told her?

"And you're saying that it's not true that Darby showed up in a shiny car – the same one that small kid with the glasses always uses to get to your school – and then proceeded to utterly own your ass? And how he had to come up and safe your ass when you were pulled over by a group of punks? You're saying all of _that_ never happened?" she was definitely looking sly now, almost like a cat that'd cornered a mouse. Vince _hated_ that look.

"He never had to safe me." Vince weakly defended himself. Truth be told, he didn't really remember the events of that evening. He only remembered a red car, a lot of blackness, a massive headache and more of Darby looking down on him.

"And, of course, when he completely hamburgered your car. Man that was hilarious!" she actually burst out laughing at the thought, "Aren't you still picking tomatoes out of your grill?"

Before Vince could try and retort – he just _knew_ that Darby had done it, as did all of Jasper, but no-one could prove it. He'd been thinking about what to do for revenge for a while now, but couldn't think of anything that'd be satisfying enough – there was a lot of sound from outside.

Sounds that were far too loud to be normal.

Sounds that were suspiciously like…

KABOOM!

The explosion knocked both Vince and Jennifer down, both landing painfully on the ground. But that wasn't the end. The entire kitchen shook like it was an earthquake, only worse. Pots, pans, utensils all fell to the ground or shattered in the cabinets as the windows shattered, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

"AARGH!" Both brother and sister screamed in pain and fear as the rain of glass fell down. It ended almost as quickly as it had started, but before long a second explosion was heard, though that was significantly further away.

The door burst open a second later and both of Vince's parents came rushing in, Father clearly supporting Mother, and quickly helped both children up.

"We have to go, right now!" Father said as he pulled Vince up. "This place is under attack." Vince could suddenly feel the pain course through his body. he was covered in small cuts and pain was riding through his body. At his side, Jennifer also winced as she was pulled up. Much like her brother, she was covered in all kinds of cuts as well, but that was all he noticed.

"Get to the car, now!" Father ordered. Instinct had taken over and they were followed his orders instantly. "Vince, get your car and follow me. The others are meeting us at the car, they'll drive with you. But don't fall behind, you hear me!"

"Y-yes dad."

A moment later they were all outside, the two elderly people where they had been staying sitting in the back of Vince's car.

"Don't worry about any rules, just DRIVE!" Father shouted as he ran over to his own car, where Jen and Mother were already sitting. A moment later, the two engines roared to live and Vince found himself racing after his dad. If he hadn't had his experience from racing, he'd have lost his dad in the first minute; the cop was driving like a madman!

But even as he was racing to escape the chaos, survival the only thing on his mind, he could still vaguely see what was going on. Giant robots were standing in the streets – _GIANT ROBOTS! WHAT THE HELL KIND OF SCI-FI CRAP IS THIS? _– And opening fire on anything he could see. Rubble was everywhere and when he wasn't being deafened by explosions he could hear screams coming from everywhere.

But somehow, it didn't fully register. The fear was definitely there, but it was being overruled. Survival. That was all that mattered.

Suddenly Jack saw one of the robots change into a car – He'd seen that car before, he just knew it! – And slam into another car trying to escape. The car in question was sent flipping to the side, the red car turned back into a robot mid-crash and there was a sudden explosion. Then, the car drove out again, as if nothing had happened. That was all Vince saw, before he was covered in smoke and finally exited the town.

'_We're out!_' Vince could almost shout in excitement. They'd made it! They escaped! And, looking around, Vince saw they weren't the only ones either. Four other cars were driving away from the chaos of that town as well.

But almost as soon as the thought had struck him, a fifth car came out of the smoke. A black-and-purple muscle car came out of the smoke and quickly caught up to the fleeing vehicles. But it didn't race past them. Instead, the black car pulled up to the rearmost vehicle and slammed into its side, sending it out into a ditch. An instant later a second car came forth, identical to the first, only with two guns on the front. Both guns blinked to life and the car in the ditch exploded on impact.

Fear gripped Vince again, his blood instantly turning to ice in his veins.

'This isn't happening!'

The first black-and-purple car closed in, speeding past the second car filled with people, and quickly closing in on Vince. He could see it coming closer and closer every second.

"NO!" Vince shouted, unable to go any faster. His car was at its maximum speed, but that other car was closing in fast. "NO! NO, NO, NO!"

A change in the rear-view mirror made Vince finally lose control, screaming in terror as he felt his bladder empty. The car suddenly had guns! And they were pointing at them!

Vince was sure he was going to die. He remembered what those guns had done to the other car. He'd explode, he'd die and there was nothing he could do! He could already see the lights gather, it was going to fire. He was going to die!

From out of nowhere, another car – this one completely white-and-silver, looking like a Lamborghini of some sort, drove by and used its low spoiler to literally lift the black-and-purple car into the air, making it's shots miss.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Vince cursed as his sudden rescuer also changed into a massive robot and shot the car that had been seconds away from killing him. Now that car exploded and fell to the side. It had all happened in a split second, and the white robot was suddenly a Lamborghini again, already racing to intercept the other car. It arrived just in time, again intercepting that black-and-purple car before it could fire.

But this time, the other car was ready. It moved to the side – _how the hell can a car move like that?_ – And turned around – _how the hell? It's not losing any speed!_ – And opened fire. The white car pulled a likewise impossible maneuver, turning in a donut, then racing towards its enemy.

An instant before impact, the white car _jumped_, turned into a robot in mid-air, pulled out a massive sword and sliced the car in two before it could do anything. it was a car again by the time it reached the road. An instant later it was driving besides Vince. There was _no driver_!

"Hurry up and get out of here!" a voice said from the car, "I can buy you guys some time and try to get others out, but I'm too outnumbered here. Don't stand around gawking, move!"

With that, it pulled another super-tight turn and started racing back to the burning town. Vince almost slowed down in shock – _that car could TALK!? There was NO DRIVER! IT WAS A GIANT ROBOT! _– Before he remembered why he was fleeing. His dad's care was already far ahead, having never slowed down. Vince quickly stepped on it, hoping to catch up. His dad, he knew, was one vicious driver.

"What the fuck is the military doing? Where are they?" They must be somewhere close by, they'd been able to get some families out every day since Jasper had been evacuated. They'd escorted them here, damnit! They should still be around.

Almost as if his curse had summoned it, a jet appeared just ahead. It was flying straight to the town. Time for those robots to feel the wrath of a good old US Army Airstrike! And there! Just behind it, more heavy vehicles were making their way. Vince could spot at least a dozen military trucks racing towards the town.

"The army's here!" he exclaimed, part of his fear disappearing. "We're saved!"

That's when the jet fired it's missile.

Straight at Father's car.

The explosion was instant and violent. Vince could feel his heart stop beating.

"NOOOOOO!"

The Jet – which didn't bear any US markings anyway – suddenly turned into another robot. This one was all grey and black, with missiles on its arms and a thin, creepy body. But the most horrifying of all was the obvious grin on it's face.

"Say goodbye!" the robot's voice was almost pure evil, a nasty growl that seemed to be full of glee at what he had just done.

"GOODBYE!" another voice sounded from just behind as a large green pick-up truck – another car that seemed familiar, but Vince's mind didn't register anything – turned into an even larger green robot that tackled the skinny grey one to the ground.

Vince didn't see anything else. A yellow-and-black car, racing side-by-side with a white racing car – again, both seemed distantly familiar – raced by, followed by dozens of army vehicles. One of them pulled over, a soldier jumping out and immediately started talking to Vince.

Vince didn't hear anything.

His family was gone.

That grey robot had killed them. He'd destroyed them for no reason and then LAUGHED about it.

Unable to vent his rage, his fear and all his other feelings otherwise, Vince screamed.

Then there was nothing but blackness.

XxX

Location: classified. Human government (subgroup: USA) base

Time: 2 hours after the attack on human town, outside of Las Vegas.

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with the Autobots.

Jack was still sitting in the cargo hold, staring at the absolutely huge hammer in front of him. Why on earth had Optimus passed the Forge to him? It was far too large for him to even consider using. He had touched it, thinking that maybe it would reduce itself in size like the Key to Vector Sigma had done, but nothing had happened.

Miko was pacing around behind him, nervous and impatient for the return of the Autobots. Arcee had answered their call and would also make her way over, but it was impossible for her she to arrive at the fight on time. She was, by her own admission, at least two days of driving away.

But there had been some good news; the soldiers who had arrived at the attacked town – Jack realized he had never heard the town's name, but it was a minor thing – had said they found a small company of survivors, though they had been chased and scared thoroughly. In fact, most had passed out the moment the army had arrived. But the real big news was _who_ had been there.

Wheeljack had arrived. He'd survived the attack on the base and he was alright! In fact, apparently, he'd already taken out a couple of Cons and was busy taking out more. He was the reason those escapees had survived.

But the fight was miles away and there was nothing Jack could do, so instead he was thinking of how he could possibly use the Forge. He had one vague suspicion, but he couldn't do anything until Agent Fowler had arrived. He'd need his safe.

Suddenly the familiar roar of engines echoed through the cargo bay. They'd returned! Jack jumped off the crate he'd been sitting on and followed Miko as she rushed out into the open. The first thing Jack saw was that the Autobots were nowhere to be seen and worry gripped him. Then he realized that they would have been the first to enter the fight and the last to leave.

That was what Optimus had taught them, after all.

And indeed, as he looked to the back of the line, he could already see the two white cars rush over. Wheeljack had accompanied the others back. But already, something else had drawn his attention; the three cars that were escorted back – each one being driven by a soldier instead of their original driver – were arriving. And the first car to arrive was incredibly familiar, with its flame-motif front.

Vince!

'_No!_' Jack almost cried out, '_Sure, Vince's a jerk, but no-one deserves to be attacked by the Cons._'

Fortunately, though, he seemed to be alright. At least, he was out and breathing. But Jack did see a load of small cuts all over his face and arms. What'd happened to him? He looked like hell!

"You can't come near right now." A soldier intercepted Jack with a raised hand. "These people need medical attention first; you can speak to them when the medic is done with them."

Jack nodded and backed off. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were driving in now; he'd be able to hear what'd happened soon enough.

XxX

Location: Classified. Human government (subgroup: USA) military base

Time: 1 day(s) after the attack on an unnamed human settlement, 11 days after the destruction of the Autobot base.

System user: Rafael Esquivel

Designation: Human – allied with Autobots.

For the fourth day in a row, Raf was working a long day, his laptop linked up to the various computers at the base. Although the other computer-techs in the base had at first been skeptical, he had quickly convinced them that Agent Fowler's confidence in him was justified. He didn't list off his achievements – in fact, he'd hardly said a word while he worked – but he had quickly put together an algorithm that allowed them to find the energy buildup from the Groundbridge.

They'd used it to warn towns to quickly evacuate before the Decepticons had attacked. And now, he was busy trying to use that on old satellite images, hoping to find the exit point that Ratchet had used. So far, he didn't have any luck. But, then again, the portal would only have been opened for a few seconds, so he'd have to go over every second of the map, in a rather vague time-frame.

Still, it was the best lead they had at the moment.

Mamma had been surprised, to say the least, when Raf told her he had work to do here. Along with the many stories of the soldiers about the cars, he had been forced to tell his mother the truth. And she had been shocked. Fortunately, Miko and Jack had been present and they aided him in telling the story. Jack had even succeeded in making everything sound perfectly safe.

They had barely managed to stop Miko from pointing out the many dangers.

Mamma had been shocked, but proud as well, she said. His brothers had been jealous. Their little brother, little Raf the geek, had made early contact with aliens and had even had some major adventures!

It had seemed best not to mention the whole 'kidnapped and brought to an alien planet before narrowly escaping an alien beam of mass destruction' affair. Still, Papa had seemed to figure as much out, though he didn't say anything when the others were there. When they had been alone, however, Papa had said that he was proud of Raf.

Raf still felt his chest swell when he thought about it. His father rarely praised anyone, least of all Raf. But this was no place for his pride, he had work to do. Work that would save lives and help him find a friend.

Jack and Miko were outside, somewhere, probably helping the soldiers or refugees – When had he started to think of the others as refugees? – who were still scattered around the base. Most of the people that had been saved from the town had nothing left now. Most of them had, in fact, seen their families or homes be destroyed in front of their eyes.

There were quite a few people from Jasper amongst the refugees; people Raf knew by face, or name, or maybe even both. But Raf had never gone to see them. He kept himself busy in the work, finding more and more tasks to do.

His work really was important; it was everything he had ever dreamed of in a job. Responsible, important and all of it digital.

Finally, one the map displaying on his screen, he got a hit on a Groundbridge energy signal. From minutes before the base's destruction! He might have found Ratchet!

Raf immediately ran out, looking for Jack and Miko to tell them the good news.

He found both his friends just outside, talking with Arcee and Wheeljack, the only two Autobots still in the base. Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Smokescreen had left the base mere hours after the skirmish with the Decepticons. Wheeljack needed to stay behind to recover a bit – he'd been hit harder than the others since he'd rushed in before the others had arrived, but that had saved dozens of human lives – while Arcee had rolled up to the base just that morning.

Miko was just giving a lively – was anything ever less-then-lively when she was involved? – Reenactment of how Jack had taken down a Decepticon in the streets of LA. Arcee looked at her partner with a combination of disapproval and pride.

"Guys, I found a hit!" Raf called out. All four looked up in pleased surprised, while Miko and Jack quickly followed him in. "Look, it's there, on the map."

For a second they looked very pleased, before Jack spoke up in a rather solemn voice.

"Sorry Raf, that's not Ratchet's signal. That's where Arcee and I arrived."

That caused Raf's face to fall. Still, it meant he was close! All he'd have to do is keep going, Ratchet had been only a minute or so behind Jack and Arcee, and so he didn't have to go through too many frames. And it proved that his theory was right! He COULD find the exit of a Groundbridge.

It was only a matter of time before he'd find Ratchet.

And after Ratchet, he'd find Optimus.

Then, everything would end up being alright.

Optimus always made everything right.

XxX

Location: Classified. Human government (subgroup: USA) military base

Time: 2 days after the attack on an unnamed human settlement, 11 days after the destruction

System user: William Fowler

Designation: Human, Subgroup: US Government employee, division; alien affairs. Allied with Autobots.

Fowler landed his private jet as smoothly as ever, his passenger in the back hardly even noticed the soft shock of making contact again. But that could also be because she had her eyes closed and was in constant prayer.

Who knew a woman as tough as June Darby – who could stomach seeing her son walk off to a distant planet, knowing he was risking his life – would be scared of flying? Well, they were all human and nobody was perfect.

Still, he found it somewhat amusing. Even if he'd never say it. Especially not to her.

Truth be told, Fowler was incredibly impressed with the woman sitting behind him. Less than a year had passed since she learned of the Autobot existence but she had adapted remarkably well. She had been worried about Jack, of course, but once she learned he was alive and safe, she didn't let it stop her. While in DC, she had helped out at a military hospital and the doctors had been reluctant to let her go. They claimed she was an excellent nurse, almost a doctor herself.

It really wasn't hard to see where Jack got it all from.

But now that they were at the base, he had a lot of matters to attend. The Bots were all out there, coordinating closely with Fowler's team. Raf had pointed out several Groundbridge portals and they had investigated and reacted to each accordingly. When it was a new Bridge, it was obviously from the Cons, so they tried to evacuate any nearby settlements ASAP. They never had enough time, but the intel had helped predict some of the Cons' movements. That alone had probably saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives.

Too bad it just wasn't enough. Every day, at least five towns and villages were attacked, worldwide. They needed a Groundbridge to counter that. And for that, they needed Ratchet.

But first things first, Fowler had to see how the kids were doing and give Jack his precious safe. And ask if he knew what to do about that big-ass hammer Prime had apparently passed on to him. How in the hell was that kid supposed to use a hammer that even Two-Ton couldn't lift without serious effort?

"Sir!" A soldier – Sergeant first class, Fowler noticed – saluted him as soon as he stepped out of his plane.

"I'll need to debrief the three immediately." He started, "After that, I'll meet up with the command of this base. Tell the general that I'll see him in 30. Also, I want all available intel on enemy movements and predictions on my computer in 20. Dismissed."

Another soldier was helping June out of the plane and she quickly followed Fowler. Though she might hide it well, she was more than a little eager to see her son again. Any mother would be.

They found the trio in the storage room where the Forge was being held. Raf had apparently just walked over; the little tech wizard had been busy in the tech lab every day, working hours most of the adults couldn't keep up with. Seeing the Forge of Solus Prime for the first time was impressive, to say the least.

The hammer was absolutely massive, almost as tall as Prime had been, and there were many details that made it pleasing to the eye as well. It was hard to believe that this was one of the most powerful tools in the universe.

'_In the hands of a prime,_' He added in his thoughts, '_which we're sorely lacking right now._'

"Agent Fowler!" Jack jumped up as soon as he walked in; "Mom!" the second cry was a lot more overjoyed as Jack raced into his mother's arms. Miko and Raf looked on for a few moments before turning their attention back to Fowler.

"Good to see you're all ok." He started, "but with those bots to protect you, there was never really any cause for concern. I've been kept up to date on most progress, but there's one thing we're all still baffled by. Jack, do you have any idea why Prime wanted you to have the forge?"

"No real clue." Jack stated, still in a half-hug with his mother. "But I've had a hunch for a while. Did you bring my safe?"

"It's being brought in now." the safe, about as big as an average backpack, had been easy to move, but hard to open. Jack knew what he'd bought. But Fowler had opened it after some brainstorming and trying some combinations and had been… surprised by what he found.

But Jack was Jack. He'd have a specific reason for wanting that safe. And it wasn't because it held his favorite porn magazines. So, Fowler had it loaded into his jet and it was being brought over now. In fact, right at that moment, a soldier walked in, carrying the thing.

"Now, what's in there that's so important?" Fowler asked after the soldier saluted him and left.

"You'll see." Jack bent down and started entering the numbers. The code, predictably, was his birthday. As soon as the safe had opened, Jack flipped the whole thing over, spilling its contents all over the floor.

"Wow, Jack." Miko teasingly said the moment she saw the numerous magazines, "You're into some kinky stuff! Hey! Isn't that… you're into Japanese stuff? You should have just said so, I could've…" she cut off as Raf simply turned beet-red. "But honestly, who buys magazines these days? Where'd you even _find_ that stuff? Never heard of the internet before?"

"That's just the decoy Miko." Jack said, already leaning back over the safe. "If anyone entered the house and tried to rob me, they'd see those and think this was just my teen stash of… you know. They'd never think to look… for this."

There was a loud popping noise coming from the safe as Jack lifted up the back wall.

"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle." Fowler exclaimed, "I never even thought of that."

Jack carefully lifted the object that'd been hidden behind the fake wall out, cradling it in one hand. Immediately Fowler understood the extra caution. Jack held the Key to Vector Sigma in his hands. The very key he'd once used to restore Prime to being, well… Prime.

"I've had a hunch about this for a while now." Jack said as he turned to face the group, Key firmly in hand. "I never gave Optimus back the Key, he told me to keep it. This Key is the thing that turned him back into a Prime. And the Forge can only be used by a Prime. It's not impossible the Forge will have some kind of reaction if I connect it with the Key. So stand back."

Fowler quickly grabbed Miko's shoulder – he just knew the girl would rush in and try to do _something_ – and looked on. Raf and June each looked on in silence as well. Jack took a deep breath, and then walked over to the Forge. Slowly, cautiously, he reached out and placed a hand on the massive device. Nothing happened.

Then, a second after contact, the Key began to glow a bright, deep, pulsing blue, and the Forge whirled to life. A faint yellow glow came forth, bathing the entire cargo hold in light as the most miraculous thing Fowler had ever seen happened.

With lots of minor movements, parts extending, moving then clicking into place again – very much like how the Bots and Cons transformed – the Forge simply… shrank in on itself.

"AARGH!" Jack's sudden shout of pain shook them all awake from the odd sight. Fowler instantly let go and rushed forward, but Jack spoke up almost immediately. "Stay back!"

The light was already fading and the Forge – once so big that Bulkhead couldn't lift it without effort – was now 'merely' as tall as Raf. It had been reduced in size and weight – for Jack was holding it up with both hands now – to something a human could handle.

Suddenly, the Key still in his hands, alongside with the Forge, Jack's eyes glazed over as more light erupted from the Forge. This time though, the light was a soft, pulsing light blue. Sweat appeared on Jack's face, apparently from concentration as he let out another pained grunt.

"Jack?" Concern was obvious in June's voice, "What's going on?"

"I am receiving a message." Jack replied, his voice strained, but otherwise normal.

"From whom?" Fowler asked. He was fairly certain he knew, but he still had to ask.

"Optimus Prime."

XxX

Previews for future chapters:

"**Me Grimlock," the massive and overall powerful warrior said as he kneeled, "Bow to Master, Lord Megatron.**

"**I know you're planning something." A voice from behind spoke up, surprising Jack. "And I want in."**

Beta Note: Massive apologies for delays… I've had this for at least two weeks and forgot to get it done. My bad, but all done now. Beta'd by the K-man.


	4. Chapter 3

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Location: error, not on known dimensional plane

Time: error, not on known dimensional plane

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – allied with the Autobots.

For an instant, Jack felt like he was floating in total blackness, unable to see anything but his own body. Then, from just ahead, color exploded into being and he was back in the familiar Autobot base. But things were off; there were no beeps from the computer, the ever-so-slight flickering of the lights was absent.

And just ahead, Optimus Prime stood, holding the Forge of Solus Prime in front of him, while Smokescreen and Ratchet watched. Jack was standing right between the two Autobots, looking ahead at the red-and-blue titan. Optimus moved to look at him, Smokescreen and Ratchet never made a move.

That's when Jack realized that everything other then Optimus and himself were frozen in time.

"Jack." Optimus' familiar, calming voice was a relief. Only now that he heard it again did Jack realize just how much he had missed the Autobot leader. It was silly, maybe, but out of everything Optimus had – his size, firepower, experience, swords, determination, power, anything! – it had always been his voice that reassured Jack the most. Calm, controlled, telling you that – no matter what – everything would be alright.

"If you received this message, it means that you now possess the Forge of Solus Prime, as I had intended. Time is short. Our base is moments away from destructions. I intend to stay behind and ensure that the Decepticons never acquire the information we poses. I know this will lead to my end. I will return to be one with the Allspark."

"You're dead." Terror gripped jack, but deep down he had always known it to be so. But the terror faded quickly, pushed aside by Optimus' voice. He didn't respond to Jack's statement, but instead continued.

"I have fought many battles against Megatron in the past, winning at times, and losing at others. But never before has our situation been this dire. And now, with my passing close at hand, I realize the truth of the words I have often told Megatron. Even should I fall, another will rise to take my place.

"Throughout our time together, I have never stopped being impressed by you, despite – or perhaps because of – your youth. Jack, you have proven to be a capable leader, a brave soul who cares for the wellbeing of those around him and willing to make a sacrifice. Yet, you have never lost your capacity for mercy, as when you found Megatron in the mines. Admirable qualities, qualities I have long sought in another soul."

Jack didn't say anything, though the mere mention of having once spared Megatron – he had told Optimus what had transpired in the mine the moment they were back in the base – was not something he wanted to remember. If he had actually done it... if he had killed Megatron then…

'_Then Unicron would have __awoken__ and all of earth would have been destroyed._'

"It was for these reasons that I gave you the Key to Vector Sigma all those months ago. But that gesture held more meaning then you knew. In that moment, I appointed you as my successor, should anything happen to me. Parts of the Matrix will remain within the Key. Let it guide you and lead the Autobots." Optimus finished.

"What?" Had Optimus really just said that? HE was the LEADER of the Autobots? How the hell was he supposed to do that?

XxX

Location: Classified. Human government (subgroup: USA) military base

Time: 2 days after the attack on an unnamed human settlement, 11 days after the destruction

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – Allied with the Autobots…

Updating. Please hold.

Designation: Human – Autobot Commander.

"Jack? JACK!" Slowly Jack opened his eyes to the blinding light above, though it was being obstructed by two dark shapes. Shapes that slowly gained more recognizable forms. Mom and Miko. They were hovering over him. He was lying on the floor, staring up at the bright lights of the warehouse.

"Oh thank god!" June exclaimed as Jack regained consciousness and showed signs of being awake. "I was worried sick about you!"

"What happened to you Jack?" Miko immediately added, "You touched the smaller hammer and suddenly there was a load of light and you screamed and dropped like a sack of potatoes. It was actually kinda scary."

"Medics are on the way." Fowler's voice said from somewhere outside of Jack's view. "How is he?"

"Heart rate is stable; eyes seem to react normally to the light." June summed up, "But he should have a full check-up just in case. He could have a concussion or something."

"I got a message." Jack finally said, responding to Miko's question. He could clearly remember what had happened, what he'd seen and heard in the vision, but his head was feeling like it was about to explode. The lights up above weren't helping either. They were just so… bright.

"Yeah, you said you got a message from Prime." Fowler leaned down and helped Jack sit up. "What'd he say?"

"Well…" Jack really wasn't quite sure on where to start. His head was killing him and really, Optimus had given him a lot of information. How was he going to tell his friends? Without hurting them.

"First things first. Optimus… is dead." Jack started. Miko and June let out a loud gasp, while at the side Raf stopped his typing – _Thank Primus! Even Raf's typing is like a drum in my head! _– While Fowler apparently bit back a curse. "He stayed in the base to destroy the database and Groundbridge controls to make sure the Decepticons couldn't follow us through. I do know where he's send Ratchet though."

"Good, that's good to know." Fowler was the only one who'd recovered from the previous statement, apparently, but Jack continued on. Now that he was talking, he felt like he had to get it all out at once, before his headache grew any worse – _was that even possible?_ – And he'd pass out.

"Ratchet was send to a secondary base near New York. If we enter the city, we should be able to contact him."

"I'll send a team over right away. Anything else?"

"Optimus intended for me to use the Forge, so I would have an advantage over Megatron… he appointed me as his successor and leader of the Autobots."

The four loud cries of "WHAT!?" were the last things Jack heard before darkness took him again.

XxX

Location: Autobot secondary base, New York

Time: 10 days after the appointment of Jackson Darby as Autobot Commander

System user: Rafael Esquivel

Designation: Human – Allied with Autobots.

Stretching out, Raf decided it was time to take a short break. He'd been working on his laptop for the past few hours, helping Ratchet set up the computer systems for their new base. Just like Jack'd said, they found the old medical bot in New York, already working on setting up a base. Upon learning that the other Autobots were already reconnected, he let out a sigh of relief.

Just yesterday, Raf had arrived in The Big Apple to help Ratchet set up the base. Jack was still suffering from several major headaches, apparently suffering from sudden migraines and June and the doctor had been adamant not to allow him to leave until he stabilized. Miko had offered to join Raf and help out setting the base up, but Raf had declined. She had good intentions, but Miko was not made for this kind of work. Too much troubleshooting, too little actual shooting.

So, that left Raf and Ratchet alone in the large, underground, isolated room. There was absolutely no connection to the outside world: Ratchet had chosen this location long ago as a fall-back base, since its underground location prevented it from being detected. But it also made it nearly impossible to contact.

Raf walked around his small worktable a few times, took a sip of his bottle of water, then sat back down. Not to work yet, he still needed another three minutes and twenty-five seconds to complete his five minute break, but to go over some other things. Things not related to setting up a new command center.

Like his algorithm to read and predict Groundbridge coordinates.

Opening a new tab on his trusted laptop, Raf opened the map he'd been using. It was an interactive version and Raf had marked every Decepticon Bridge with green dots. For the most part, they made rather random pattern; some dozen spots in the US, six in Canada, five in the main part of Europe, seven in the mostly deserted parts of Russia, some two dozen in Australia, a couple more on both the North and South pole and another dozen in the desert lands of both Africa and Asia.

Raf couldn't make heads or tails of it, but his algorithm was paying off; he'd been able to track the last seven Bridges that had opened up, for whatever good it did him.

"What's that?" Ratchet's voice spoke up from behind him, "A map of the Energon deposits on Earth?"

"No." Raf turned around to face the aged Autobot, "It's a map that shows all the Decepticon activity since they created New Kaon. I've been able to pinpoint all their Groundbridges and marked all of their coordinates."

"That's odd…" Ratchet mused, bending down to get a clearer view of the small screen. "I'm sure I've seen a map just like it before. The map we had of this world's Energon Deposits!"

"What?"

"Optimus and I managed to put all the known Energon deposits on a single map, hoping we could use it to predict Decepticon activity and help us solve our own shortage. The map looks very similar to this one."

"Wait a second…" turning back to his computer, Raf immediately started typing away. As he did so, more lights – blue ones this time – started appearing on his screen. For over an hour he kept typing, more lights appearing as the map was updating, new data made available. Almost all the blue lights were located right next to the greens. "That's it!" the young computer genius suddenly exclaimed.

"Ratchet, we have to go topside and contact Agent Fowler, right away! I know what the Decepticons have been up to!"

Five minutes later, Ratchet was on the streets of New York, parked next to a subway constructions area and listening as Raf contacted Fowler.

"Fowler." As always these days, Agent Fowler sounded agitated and to the point. Raf knew he was working long hours – 3 hours of sleep was a good day – and was very busy, but it still sounded hostile.

"I know what the Cons are doing." Raf immediately started.

"What'd you mean son?" Fowler asked, though the tiredness in his voice was replaced by curiosity. It had been a big mystery for the past few weeks – or was it a month already? Raf was beginning to lose track of time – just why the Decepticons were so focused on attacking remote little villages, instead of striking at any of the dozens of metropolises the world over.

"All this time we've been asking ourselves the wrong question." Raf started, again typing away, sending the new data to Fowler as he spoke, "We've been asking ourselves; 'Why is Megatron not attacking the big cities?' and we haven't been able to get an answer. That's because it's the wrong question. The question we should be asking ourselves is this; 'Why is Megatron attacking the small towns?' and I've found the answer."

"Do explain."

"Take a look at the map I just send you. The green spots indicate the Decepticon Groundbridges, the blue ones are known Energon deposits. Megatron hasn't been attacking small settlements; he's removing them from known Energon sites. He's stockpiling on Energon! With the stockpile he'll have created in the past few weeks, he should be able to last for years."

XxX

Location: New Kaon – Throne Room

Time: system error; cannot calculate Cybertronian timeframe. Using host planet time indication; 21 human days after the creation of New Kaon

System user: Lord Megatron

Designation: Decepticon – Supreme Commander and Founder

Standing in his throne room, Megatron looked at the multitude of screens, each displaying a new wealth of information. Energon stockpiles, drone creation rates, weapon stockpiles, the status of the weapons that New Kaon possessed, Soundwave's latest reports and regular updates from the Spacebridge.

All the information he would need to continue running his war, to ensure his victory. Especially now that Optimus was gone.

Megatron still had to hold back a chuckle as he thought back to his fallen enemy. True, Optimus had been a powerful and dedicated enemy, but in the end, Megatron had won. As he had always known he would.

And with Prime out of the way, the rest of the Autobots were scattered and leaderless. They would pose little threat to his upgraded armies. Which meant that the Decepticons were already the rulers of this planet, even if the humans did not know it yet.

They could do nothing against his superior forces.

In fact, Megatron had not even devoted any time to truly conquering this insignificant little planet. Instead, he had been thinking ahead, planning for the future. Every vault and unoccupied room in New Kaon was lined up with Energon, enough to run the massive fortress for several stellar cycles. And the drones brought back more Energon every day. Each of the mining operations was giving great spoils, now that they no longer cared about keeping cover.

Never again would Megatron make the mistake he had made on Cybertron. Back then, he had failed to secure a superior stock of Energon when the planet's supplies were running dry. That had nearly cost him the war. This time, he was prepared.

"Lord Megatron!" Knockout entered with a bow, "It is done, as you requested. We shall never have to worry about Energon again."

"Yes?" Megatron turned around to look at the red medic. Ever since Megatron's little trip into Starscreams' mind, he had been more then eager to prove his loyalties. Or rather, his lack of disloyalties.

"Indeed, my Lord." Knockout continued, still in a bow. "As per your instructions, I have managed to reverse engineer the Green Energon that the Autobot Ratchet had created. Right now, I am using a refinement system to turn our regular Energon into this Synth-En, as he called it. But one piece of Energon can create over a dozen pieces of Synth-En. And with such a large supply to aid in refining the process, I predict I will be able to synthesize it completely in roughly ten Megacycles."

"Excellent work, Doctor." Megatron nodded, then stood from his throne. "Use some of the drones in your field tests. When we attack the next human settlement, I want a report of the upgrades. Continue your work."

"As you command, my liege." Knockout left the room again, still bowed. There was nothing wrong with making the good Doctor squirm a bit, especially if it increased his work speed like that.

XxX

Location: Decepticon controlled Energon Mine, North America, State of Nebraska

Time: 24 days since the destruction of the Autobot base

System user: Bulkhead

Designation: Autobot, subgroup_1: 'Team Prime,' subgroup_2: Wreckers.

As usual in these situations, Bulkhead felt a strange combination of worry and excitement. Being with Jackie, that combination of emotions was expected. It was just the two of them, up against impossible odds.

Just like old times.

Using signals that had been burned into their processors, Jackie and Bulk set up their plan of action. Their first attacks would destroy the set stocks of Energon, the resulting explosion would do a lot of damage to the Cons and mine, and then they'd take out some cons and finally, make it out with some scraps of Energon.

Quick, decisive, dirty. A real Wrecker job.

Both of his hands transformed into cannons, Bulkhead waited until Jackie was in position. Then, before the Cons even knew they were there – without a supervisor, their security was absolutely pathetic! – The two seasoned warriors made their move.

Four of the six Energon piles immediately turned into raging infernos, taking out at least a dozen Cons. Running from cover to cover, Bulkhead shot at some more cons, keeping most of the attention on him. In the meantime, Jackie had turned into vehicle mode and was racing to the fifth pile. Three Cons had the bad luck to stand in his way.

Transforming without ever losing his speed, Jackie sliced through number one, blasted number two and decapitated number three, before throwing his grenade at the stock. Just as quickly, he was making his way to the last pile. The explosion he left in his wake was nothing short of spectacular.

'_That's at least three points._' Bulkhead judged as he waved in-between the Con's fire, shooting down three more drones before engaging another five with his wrecking ball. '_I can't let Jackie upstage me like that!_'

A few surprisingly quick strikes with two wrecking balls later, Bulkhead left seven dead cons behind – two more had tried to jump him from behind – and turned to the final pile of Energon. Jackie was already there and he'd grabbed a couple of Energon Cubes.

Looking around, doing a quick scan for more hostiles, Bulk realized that they were, in fact, the only functioning robots in the area. All the Cons were either dead or gone. That meant they were on a timer. A short one.

Bulkhead transformed, then drove up. Jackie started loading as much Energon Cubes as he could, stacking them high and tight. Only when Bulkhead was fully loaded up and he still had several Cubes for himself did he blow the final load.

The entire affair had taken less then a Cycle, but the clock was still ticking. Jackie left behind his parting gift and both Wreckers raced out. A few nano-cycles after they had cleared the mine's entrance, the bomb went off. The two Energon-loaded vehicles were barely outside the blast radius.

"Well, that was boring." Jackie remarked. "Hardly a challenge, eh Bulk?"

"Oh please." Bulkhead grinned, "That's because I was doing all the real work. Now let's go, we need to drop this Energon off and go for the next mark."

"What? You think taking out seven drones at once is impressive? I rank it a two-pointer at most. Maybe two-and-a-half for the look those last two gave you."

"So, that makes us even. Guess the next one's the tiebreaker then."

They kept their usual banter up for the entire ride, more then pleased with how well their operation had been going. Arcee, Bumblebee and Smokescreen would be making similar raids on other locations; it was the only way they had to fight back right now.

Steal Energon from the mines, disrupt the Decepticon Operation and build up as many refueling points as possible. And in the meantime, Fowler would work out a follow-up strategy.

It reminded Bulkhead why he was happy he wasn't in charge. Because if he was…

He'd realize that this was not doing much good, but was only annoying the enemy. He'd realize that they'd have to take the fight to them, but that it was useless with their current numbers. If he'd been in charge, he'd realize that, really, the war was already lost.

But he wasn't. And for that, he was more then happy.

Though it did beg the question…

Who was in charge?

XxX

Location: Classified. Human government (subgroup: USA) military base

Time: 14 days since appointment of Jackson Darby as Autobot leader, 25 days since the destruction of Autobot base.

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Human – Autobot Commander.

Looking at the glowing key in his hands – the remnants of the matrix – Jack felt another migraine coming up. By now, he'd figured out where they came from. Or at least, he had a theory. Every time he was near the Key, when he was holding it, it would pulse like this. The light grew stronger, and then died down, then stronger again. And his headaches would rise with each glow.

So, it was logical to conclude that, like Optimus had mentioned in his last message send via the Forge of Solus Prime, that this was the Key attempting to interact with his brain. Yet, his non-Cybertronian physiology and biology, not to mention anatomy and bio-mechanical structure, were in all likelihood too foreign for the key to adapt, resulting in the periods of pain as it tried to access functions that his human body did not posses. So, as a method of trying to ascertain that the data was absorbed, the Matrix tried to access the equivalent of his root data source, his nerves. The following sensory overload resulted in the sensation he experienced as migraines.

'_Ok… where the hell did all that come from?_'

In his hand, the Key's pulsing was slowing down. And, somehow, Jack knew just what had happened. His previous theory was right; the Key was attempting to upload knowledge directly into his brain… and was having serious problems with it. Jack felt his vision fade in and out, and then all the colors dulled for a second, before it all came back into focus.

Jack clutched his head again, grunting. The pain and weird feelings just wouldn't go away. June was at his side a second later, but she was unable to do anything but hold him. Earlier, they'd tried to remove the Key, but the migraine wouldn't stop.

Blinking again, Jack looked around. The colors were back, but… something else was different in what he saw. It was like… like he saw numbers floating around, flashing in and out of existence as he looked at things.

It took Jack nearly a minute of dazed staring to realize he was, in fact, seeing computer data flow by. Not fully, but every now and then, he saw bits and pieces float by. More blinking. Another flash of pain. The numbers were gone.

Jack felt another migraine come up. The medicine the doctors had proscribed didn't help, but he still took them. Maybe this time… he blacked out again.

When he woke, his headache was mostly gone. Looking outside, Jack saw the setting sun – or was it rising? – from just outside his window. The shadows cast by the other buildings were large and pointed towards him. An instant later he had calculated that, since the shadows had decreased by zero-point-one-five-three millimeters since he started looking – approximately three-point-five-one-seven seconds ago – it meant the sun was setting.

If the sun had been rising, considering the planet's angle, the time of the year and location on the planet, and roughly seventy-nine other factors, the shadows would have expanded instead of decreasing. And, by using those same calculation factors, Jack counted that he had been asleep for 18847 seconds, or five hours, fourteen minutes and seven seconds.

The calculations had taken exactly twenty-one-point-three-one-five seconds.

"No wonder my head is hurting." Jack groaned as he tried to sit up. "I've never been any good at math. This must be the whole 'Wisdom of the Primes' thing."

More calculation happened the moment he looked at something – the wall contained an average of two-hundred-and-seven-point-eight-five-nine tiles per square meter, the painting over there had exactly fifty-eight different colors, seven of which where shades of red – but Jack tried to force them down.

He could really do without all the numbers. It was more exhausting then any of his previous visions, actually. He almost wished back the black-and-white or out-of-focus sight.

But he didn't. Instead, he realized something. Math. He was now a savant of it. And math was the basis for pretty much the entire universe.

Including the Forge.

Clutching his head, trying to suppress all the random calculations that he was doing without even realizing it, Jack moved over to the Forge. He'd been given his own room on the base – it was 8 foot and 2.421875 inch, also known as 2.5 meters, by 4 foot and 11.00625 inch, also known as 1.5 meters – and he held the Forge – mass; 22 pounds – in it.

The moment Jack closed his hand around the forge, it gave it's soft glow, the wheels in the head spun to life. And the calculations left Jack's vision. Swinging the hammer around, he hit his bed with it. The light from the Forge changed into short sparks that climbed all over the bed, before disappearing.

Looking it over carefully, Jack examined the changes he'd made to his bed. It now held an electrical device to raise or lower parts of his mattress. A device that had not, before, been there.

As Jack's migraine faded away, he realized what he'd just done. He'd used the Forge… and created something! He'd finally discovered how to make it work.

Holding the heavy piece of equipment with both arms, Jack ran across the base, drawing more then a few eyes. Almost everyone on the base had at least heard of him by now, though he was more known for his frequent, unexplained black-outs and constant migraines then anything else.

Finally, after a run that took longer then he'd have wanted, Jack reached Fowler's office. June was there; sitting at a separate desk, sorting some papers for Fowler and was more then surprised to see her son standing.

"Jack!" June's voice drew as much attention from Fowler as her suddenly rising to her feet. "What're you doing out of bed?"

"I'm better." He muttered, "Headache's over. I got the Forge to work!"

"SAY WHAT?!" Now it was Fowler who shut up out of his chair, a look of amazement on his face.

"I saw all these numbers floating and I was suddenly doing a load of calculations and then I just… knew. I could use the Forge. I changed my bed, it has electric springs now. That's what my headaches have been. The Matrix is uploading knowledge into my brain, but my body can't handle it properly. And now, I've got the knowledge to use the Forge!"

"Slow down son." Fowler gestured to the seat in front of his desk as he sat down. "That's great news. Are you able to fully control it? Can you use it to make whatever you want?"

"It's not that easy." Jack started, "I need to _know_ what I'm forging, know what parts it's made up off, how they work together, how strong they need to be… and the Key helps with that. Somehow."

"But you can use it whenever you want? With the Key, you can create anything you want?"

"As long as either I or the Key understand what it is you want to create… it shouldn't be a problem. And in that line… I think I have an idea."

"What kind of idea?" Fowler raised an eyebrow. June, likewise, turned to look at Jack. She'd hardly ever heard that tone from him before. That slyness… she knew he was planning something.

"Well, we'll need some vehicles. And it'll take some time, but I think… I think we can start on a counter-plan soon." Already, he could see the foundations and calculations running in front of him. The alterations he would have to make, the outside parts that would be needed. In his mind's eye, his plan was halfway complete.

"What kind of vehicles? And what for?"

"I'll show you, as soon as I get the calculations done." Jack was pulled back from his plans to reply, "And we'll need those vehicles to create more Autobots."

"I know you're planning something." A voice from behind spoke up, surprising Jack. "And I want in."

Apparently, Jack wasn't the only one who'd been surprised. Fowler immediately reached for his belt, while June turned around in shock. Jack gazed at the new arrival standing in the door.

Human, male, age; seventeen. Name: Vincent Dicolleta, commonly referred to as 'Vince'.

"Vince, what're you doing up?" since his arrival at the base, two weeks ago, the normally arrogant bully had been remarkably shut-in and silent. Of course, Jack could sympathize. From what he'd heard the soldiers remark on their way back, he'd witnessed a car be destroyed right in front of him. He'd even overheard some of the doctor's mention that he was more then likely traumatized in some way.

But the Vince leaning against the doorpost looked anything but traumatized. He looked focused and collected. The arrogance that he was so well-known for in school was gone, but there was something else. Something Jack, with his returned math savant-ness, couldn't recognize. A blink later and the math was gone, allowing Jack to see it again. And now, with a normal human's eyes, he could see it clearly.

Determination.

"How'd you get in here?" Fowler asked, sitting back down. Apparently, he'd assessed that Vince was not a threat. And Jack agreed. There were, from where Vince was now standing, fifty-seven possible courses of aggressive action he could take, if he wanted to injure anyone. Only ten of those had any chance of harming the other people in the room and Fowler had an estimate of ninety-two responses to stop him before he could hurt anyone. And if that failed, Jack had another twenty-seven possible responses, fourteen of which would end with Vince disabled and Jack relatively unharmed.

'_Why exactly am I thinking of Vince as a threat? And how did I calculate all those possible actions?_'

"It's not like you have any security outside the office." Vince shrugged, as if he walked in on Fowler every day, "And I say Darby walk by with that hammer, figured something must be up. I overheard enough to know you're planning a counter-attack against those… those _THINGS_. And. I. Want. In!"

"I understand your feelings, son, but that's not your call to make." Fowler started, "This will be a military operation and you are still a minor. You can't enlist. We will make those robots pay for what they've done, you have my word."

"That's not good enough!" Vince snapped. "They killed my family!"

Ok, so maybe, he wasn't as calm as he appeared.

"And you're hurting." Fowler said back, his voice remarkably calm, "But vengeance isn't the answer son, no matter what you may think? You can stay here, help us on this base."

"I want to fight."

"But you can't. Not until you're of age and especially not until you've been through boot camp. You want to help? Then enlist, help out with the multitude of tasks that comes with running a base this size."

"You don't get it." Vince stepped forward, leaning on Fowler's desk. Now that he was so close, Jack could see the water gathering at his eyes. "I know what these things can do, how much pain they can bring! I don't want revenge! I want to stop them, so no-one else will feel what I'm feeling. You say I should be a soldier, that I should be of age! Well, I always wanted to enlist, I wanted to join the army! Pay back my country, the whole shebang. But now… now there is a cause worth fighting for! And do not bullshit me about my age, when you have Darby and that exchange student running in here like they are _your_ advisors!"

"Agent Fowler." Jack stood up, looking his old rival and nemesis in the eye. "I think we can make something of this."

Again, the plans in his head were already forming. And really, someone as passionate and dedicated as Vince could be a real asset.

"Jack?" Both June and Fowler looked at him.

"He says he wishes to help protect others. What more reason does one need to join our cause? I will permit him to join us, if you do not object. That means we will need four vehicles."

"Four? And what's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

"Bill!" June pointed at something on Jack's chest. The Key was pulsing brightly, outshining most lights in the room. Jack's voice had changed the moment the key started pulsing, echoing through the room, suddenly sounding at once deeper and more metallic.

"So, this is the Matrix's work then?" Fowler quickly concluded. "Fine, let him join up. It hasn't proven to be a liability yet. Though, for the record, I do not like this."

"Your opinion has been noted. Now, we will need four vehicles to use as our new Autobots."

"Why four? I mean, if you can create new Autobots with that hammer, why not just create an entire army?"

"Because I can not create Autobots, even with the Forge." Just like that, mid-sentence the light from the key died down and Jack's voice returned to normal. "But I can create the next best thing. And I'll make one for you, Miko, Vince and myself. Optimus could fight Megatron to a standstill with only four warriors. Let's see how Megatron likes it if we double that number."

"You'll only need three." Vince said, a grin spreading one his face, "I've already got my own vehicle."

"Good." Jack smiled back, "Now, We'll also need some new names."

XxX

Location: Autobot secondary base, New York

Time: 21 days since appointment of Jackson Darby as Autobot leader, 32 days since the destruction of Autobot base.

System user: Ratchet

Designation: Autobot

Ratchet could barely believe what he was seeing, but he knew it was true. He had already heard about Jack receiving a message from Optimus and having been named the Autobot leader. That had been a mild surprise; to Ratchet, it had been clear that Optimus was grooming the boy for leadership. But this… this was something Ratchet had never expected to see again.

The naming of new life. An ancient custom on Cybertron, one that had been all but abandoned in the war. There simply hadn't been enough time. Few Cybertronians reached the age to be named, many dying in the war before they could be named. And now – here on Earth, millions of lightyears away from Cybertron – he had been asked to stand as the master of ceremony for this ritual.

And what a unique ritual it would be. Even the humans, who knew nothing of Cybertronian customs, had realized that this was important. June stood off the side in a new dress, Raf was wearing new clothing as well and his hair was better-kept then Ratchet had ever seen it. They would be the sole witnesses to this moment.

The other Autobots were still in the field and unlikely to report in any time soon.

"This ceremony will be different from any in the past." Ratchet reminded the humans present. "Not only is this entire situation completely unique, it is mixed with what would otherwise be the most important moment in our history.

"In the days of old, before the war, acts such as these were conducted by the Council of Ancients. I have witnessed both ceremonies before and will do my best to reenact it."

"I'm sure it will be magnificent doctor." June said, her hand on Raf's shoulder.

Looking around the base again, Ratchet looked at each of the four creatures he would be naming in turn. Their movements were still clumsy, uncontrolled. But they could move enough to do this, before they continued their training.

Four humans stood aside four machines, each wearing a tight suit with many markings on it. The suits were designed to cooperate with the machines. In time, they would be unneeded, but for now, they made control easier.

"Come forward." Ratchet declared, pointing at the first of the too-be-named machines. The human called Vince quickly stepped into his car. A few seconds later, the flame-covered muscle car slowly made it's way forward.

"Transform." Ratchet commanded.

With obvious difficulty, the transformation slowly occurred. This had been the work of Jack and the Forge, guided by the Matrix of Leadership in what could only be described as an act of near magic. Through Jack's wielding of the Forge, he had installed within each vehicle a T-cog. And with the T-cog, came the ability to transform. Further adjustments had been made. That was why it had taken Jack weeks, instead of hours.

Creating the T-cog was easy; ensuring that every part could work was not. But finally, after having gone over the plans several times, they had succeeded. And immediately after the first tests had been complete, Fowler had ordered all four to be moved. This location in New York was just temporary.

"I am transformed." The flame-covered black-colored Autobot stated.

"Then kneel." Ratchet intoned, thinking back to the ceremonies as best he could. The flame-covered machine did just that. "You have come to us a youngling, led by passion. Yours are the fires of devotion and dedication. Rise now, an Autobot. Arise, Hotrod!"

The newly named Hotrod stood up and unless Ratchet's optics were malfunctioning, he stood a little taller, a little prouder. With a nod of gratitude, he stepped to the side, waiting the rest of the ceremony out in robot mode.

"Come forward." Ratchet repeated, now pointing at Miko – the girl was barely recognizable with her bangs undone and all her hair tucked into the black suit – and her black pick-up truck. Really, he should have known that Miko would go for the biggest of the vehicles.

Like Hotrod before her, the black truck moved forward slowly.

"Transform."

Equally slowly and with difficulty, the black machine began the transformation process. Parts opened, moved and closed. Ratchet watched with satisfaction. When this was over, they would move to a new location, where he would oversee not only the construction of the new Groundbridge – which would go much faster, now that they could use the Forge – but also train these younglings for battle.

"I am transformed." The tall black mech announced. Ratchet had to look up. Really, this robot was as tall as Bulkhead. She would almost have been able to look Optimus in the eye.

"Then kneel." Even on one knee, the black machine was almost as tall as he was. Truly, it had been expected of Miko. "You have come to us a youngling," Ratchet started, "Led by curiosity. Yours are the powers of compassion and loyalty. Rise now, an Autobot. Arise, Heavyarms!"

Heavyarms stood up, once again towering over Ratchet, then quickly grabbed the aged medic and hugged him. Just like Miko. Now, Ratchet was left with one more naming. And then…

"Come forward." Ratchet repeated for the third and final time. Fowler, older, bigger and so different from his co-pilots, stepped into his vehicle. A rarity for an Autobot to be. Instead of a car of some kind, Fowler had chosen his trusted aircraft. The secret government prototype jet he had frequently flown was, as he stated, the single strongest gunship in current existence. That was why he had chosen it.

It's likeliness to two of the three strongest Decepticons in recent history was, of course, a nice addition.

With a slight rumble of the engine, the jet came to life and slowly rolled forward.

"Transform."

Just like Heavyarms, Skyquake and Dreadwing before it, the jet was a massive machine and easily towered over Ratchet. Still, the transformation process took a significant amount of time. Finally, it was done. Ratchet barely reached the chest of the flyer, but it made little difference.

"I am transformed." Fowler's voice sounded, oddly hollow compared to the other two, through the room.

"Then kneel." Ratchet said for the third time. The transformed jet did so, but even then he was just as tall as the medic.

"You came to use a youngling," it was odd to categorize Fowler in the same age-group as Miko and Vince, but by Cybertron's standards, all were still younglings. And it was part of the ceremony. One was a youngling, until one received a proper naming.

"Led by desire for peace. Yours are the wisdom of experience and knowledge. Rise now, an Autobot. Arise, Jetfire!"

With another slight sound of engines starting up, Jetfire rose to his feet. Standing, Jetfire looked at the medic another time, before snapping a salute. Ratchet returned the gesture, after which Jetfire stepped back.

Now, with Jetfire to the left, Heavyarms to the right and Hotrod standing across from Ratchet, it was time for the next ceremony.

A ceremony a million times more unique then the Naming. A ceremony that happened only once in a hundred lifetimes. A ceremony that Ratchet had seen once before. And that he would lead now.

The creation of a Prime.

There, in the back of the room, behind Hotrod, stood the last of the vehicles, Jack already sitting inside. Ratchet was actually feeling nervous for what was about to happen.

"In the past, Primes could be named by one of two ways." He started, "The Council of Ancients could raise people of exceptional achievements to the rank of Prime, to appoint them as leaders. This has given us great leaders in times of both peace and crisis. Zeta Prime, first leader of the Autobots in the war, was raised in this manner. But with the Council disbanded or destroyed, this method of raising our leaders is all but impossible."

"Yet this was a new way of raising one to the rank of Prime. In ages past, before the Council existed, one could become a Prime only through the gift of Primus himself, or the appointment of a previous Prime. Today, we witness history as a new Prime is born. A Prime raised in the old ways, by the choice of Optimus Prime."

"Come forward."

The blue supercar rode forward slowly, allowing all to see it's appearance properly. It was mostly dark blue, with several silver highlights. In Ratchet's opinion, it looked almost regal. A proper choice of appearance for a leader, he thought. Without waiting for his command, the blue car transformed into robot mode. The process was much faster and smoother than with any of the three previous Autobots.

"As Optimus before you, you have been raised by the choice of a Prime, a disciple of Primus himself. You bear the mark of this honor."

The mech raised both hands, holding the newly-enlarged Key to Vector Sigma- to Ratchet's eye level. In the same move, it slid down to one knee. The key began to pulse again, brighter then ever before. The lights reflected off the walls of the base, illuminating all present.

"As the newest Prime, the fifteenth disciple of Primus, the last of your kind, you are burdened with great responsibility. Will you carry these responsibilities and fulfill them to the best of your abilities?"

"I will." The voice coming from the mech was odd – a mixture of Jack's youthful, yet confident voice, mixed with a sprinkling of sage wisdom. It reminded Ratchet of when Optimus had transformed from Orion Pax into Optimus Prime.

"Then now, for the records of Cybertron and the history of all the universe, say your vows and speak your words." This was a crucial part of the ceremony, a part where any Prime raised to the status – whether by the Council of another Prime – would indicate, once and for all, what their intentions were.

"For so long as I life, or draw breath, I vow to protect those I can. Never shall I bow to tyranny or oppression. While fear will always exist, it shall not rule so long as I exist. I am the wall that stands before the innocent. I am the shield that guards the oppressed. I am the guardian that protects the weak. I am the sentinel who protects those who can not speak."

The light from the Matrix intensified tenfold, seeming to explode around the room. Sounds could be heard too, bouncing off the walls and echoing through the hall, slowly transforming.

"Arise," Ratchet said, his voice echoing through the chamber. Other voices could be heard, echoing from the very Matrix. Optimus' most prominent of all "Sentinel Prime."

Sentinel did just that, standing eye-to-eye with the medic.

"You have said your oaths," the medic continued, the many voices still echoing through the room, repeating his words, "Now say your words. The words the universe will remember alongside your name. The words that will define your existence and drive you in all that you do."

The light from the Matrix now seemed to converge on Sentinel. As the light concentrated, strange things happened. More light shone from parts of his body, especially his face, as it started to change under the influence of the Matrix. As Ratchet watched, just as it had so many eons ago, the Matrix changed Sentinel's appearance, until Ratchet was looking at an almost identical robotic copy of Jack's face.

Finally, the light died down, though the echoing words remained. Sentinel opened his eyes, green light bursting forth from them and finally spoke up. His words, his oaths, and the promises he made to the very universe itself. The one thing that, beyond anything else, would drive him and define him.

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings!"

XXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxx

Preview for future chapters:

"**Jack?" the familiar voice on the other side of the line said, "It's Sierra. Hey, remember that cool red car that picked you up from school? I think it's kinda following me."**

"**Who are they?" Sentinel asked, looking at the screen. The robots he was seeing were all huge. "Impossible!" Bulkhead exclaimed, "Those're the Dinobots! And they're with the Decepticons!"**

Beta Note: Again, my bad for the lateness, I've been a dickfuck. Also, to any nerds out there, the math included in this chapter is about 85 percent arse gravy.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

XxX

Location: classified racing track Aerolesae, eastern-Germany.

Time: 2 months since the destruction of the Autobot base, 3 weeks since the birth of Sentinel Prime

System user: Sentinel Prime

Designation: Autobot Commander

Sentinel, leading the formation they were driving in, was exhilarated. He always was when he was going this fast. It was only possible on this part of the track, because it was just pure, straight road, but every time they drove by, they drove just a little faster.

On his right, Hotrod was racing comfortably, keeping up with the speed easily. It was Heavyarms, on his left, who was currently deciding their maximum speed. The large black Bot was no doubt the toughest in a fight, with her strong armor and numerous weapons – both Energon blasters and bullet-using guns – but she had the slowest speed by far. Even so, at her maximum speed, they were easily going a hundred miles an hour. And that was without the Turbocharge.

"Attention, you're about to enter the next segment of targets." The drill sergeant's voice came over the radio. "Prepare to engage. Try to clear this part of the course in less then two minutes."

"Affirmative." All three Autobots replied. In synch, let by Sentinel, they decelerated till they were only going eighty. Two minutes. A hundred-and-twenty seconds. To clear the next two miles with an unknown number of targets. It'd be tight, but certainly possible.

"Mark." The sergeant initiated their exercise. In his head, Sentinel immediately kept a timer up. Ten seconds past without any targets. Then fifteen. Twenty. Finally, at twenty-four seconds, the first target popped up.

A car, with a large piece of cardboard in front of it suddenly drove at them from the right side. Sentinel gave a burst of speed, making sure to stay ahead of the 'enemy', while Heavyarms deployed her Gatling gun. The weapon – loaded with paintballs – spattered the cardboard in seconds, marking the first target down. All of a sudden, from the left, a second cardboard-bearing vehicle rushed forward. Heavyarms would be unable to turn her weapon quickly enough, so Hotrod took care of it instead.

The flamed car suddenly jumped, transformed in mid-air, covered the cardboard in oil from his flamethrower and had already transformed back before he hit the road. That was a risky maneuver worthy of Wheeljack, or Smokescreen. Hotrod had been a very quick study, proving to be the most effective in utilizing quick-transformations.

The third target wasn't a moving cardboard, but suddenly jumped up from the track, creating a – rather soft, of course – barrier. This time it was Sentinel who transformed, blasted it till it fell apart and then transformed back. He was running behind his teammates now, but he'd catch up in a second. He was, after all, far faster then either of his partners.

Fifty seconds, and they'd completed half the target course.

"Keep it up." He told the others as he raced back into position. At that point, more targets appeared, from all sides at once, boxing them in. As if on queue, all three Autobots transformed into robot mode and started shooting. Back-to-back, they quickly painted every charging cardboard in a variety of colors, until the road was clear again. But it took time. Too much time.

Ninety seconds, and they still had to cross three-quarters of a mile. This would be tight. But they could do it.

Another barrier popped up, Heavyarms quickly blasting it back with her blaster, but that only revealed the second barrier just behind it. It too fell, but the three bots had to significantly slow down before they'd crash into it.

Hundred-and-ten seconds, quarter of a mile to go.

"Turbocharge!" Sentinel ordered. At his side, the three Autobots all sped up.

Only to crash into a third barrier that popped up a second later.

They drove through the soft paper-like tissue, but it obstructed their sights. A failure for the course.

"Ah Scrap." Inside Heavyarms, Sentinel could just imagine Miko slamming her fists into the steering wheel. They'd been so close.

"That was pretty close." The sergeant's voice returned over the radio, "Report to the garage for debriefing, analysis and fix-up. After that, it's lunch-time. Ermey out."

"I agree." Hotrod sounded heated, again. "'Scrap' is the word to use. We screwed it up."

"Let's just report to base." Sentinel said, already turning around, "Might as well get it over with."

Ten minutes later, the three Autobots in training pulled into their respective garages. As soon as Sentinel was parked and the engine shut down, Jack stepped out and, still wearing his tight black bodysuit, moved over to the debriefing room. Vince was already there and Miko entered just a few seconds later. Fowler and Gunnery Sergeant Ermey were already there, apparently waiting for the teens. When had Fowler arrived?

"Have a seat." Sergeant Ermey ordered. Fowler didn't say anything, instead simply sitting there. "You have failed the objective in today's exercise."

Jack lowered his eyes, his cheeks coloring slightly. This was, no doubt, his fault since he was in charge.

"While your display out there was very impressive, you should always keep an eye on the objective. The objective, this time, was to clear the course. I never said you had to take out all the targets. Because you three stopped moving to take out a large number of enemies, you lost precious time and failed." Ermey never once raised his voice, but he kept circling the table as he spoke.

"That's not to say this is a total failure." He continued, surprising Jack. And, based on how their heads suddenly shot up, the other two teens as well. "The swift increase in how you control your bodies – especially you, Hotrod – is nothing short of incredible. Your transformations are getting more fluid and you can incorporate them into battle swiftly. Starting tomorrow, we'll decrease the time spent on transformations and focus more on battle formations and coordination. Now, it's time for dinner. Clean up and report back for sparring at twenty-one-hundred. Dismissed!"

All three teens stood up, saluted the sergeant – he had been very quick to teach them proper respect to senior officers, failure to do so let to extreme punishments – but only Vince turned around to leave. Miko and Jack turned to Fowler, who finally stood up. After a glare from Ermey, they gave a quick salute to the special agent as well.

"At ease you two. I saw the training exercise. Nice progress." Fowler started, "but I have to agree with the sergeant, you always have to keep an eye on the objective, not just try to beat every enemy. Other then that, I'm very impressed with how quick you've mastered your bodies."

"Thanks." Miko grinned, "We've been working pretty hard, if I do say so myself."

"I saw." Fowler pointed at some of the papers in front of him. "I've been going over the training schedule the sergeant has set up for you. It's very impressive, but I do have to wonder why there is so much physical exercise on it this week. There wasn't any for the first week, but suddenly there's two or three physical training sessions a day."

"It's based on a recent discovery we made sir." Ermey started, "we reviewed performances and improvements after the first week and noticed that Hotrod had made significant improvements over the other two. Since he didn't spend any more time training in the armor then the other two, the source must have been something else.

Hotrod had been doing physical training on the side in his own time and, after a talk with Ratchet, we theorized that may have been a contributing factor. The increase in neural activity that follows apparently has a positive influence on the level of control on the robot body. Since the armor is controlled through neural impulses as well, any neural stimulation increase the learning rate. And it works. All three made significant increases in skill this last week."

"So… training the human body allows better control over the robot body." Fowler summarized. "Interesting, when I'm back in the states I'll try to return to some daily workouts, should improve my control over Jetfire as well."

"You're not staying?" Jack was surprised. Jetfire had been missed in their training sessions and with Fowler finally there, he had assumed that all four of them would be training together.

"No, I've made arrangements so I can be here for about three days to join in some training sessions and oversee the development of the new Autobot base, but I'm needed back Stateside on Saturday. My department is being increased in size, though, so with a little luck I'll be able to join you on a more constant basis before long."

"Looking forward to it!" Miko said, before her stomach let out a growl. "But now, it's time for me to get some food!"

"Jack. A minute of your time please." Jack had already half-turned to follow the Japanese girl to dinner when Fowler stopped him.

"Yeah?"

"I've been going over several of the recordings we have of old Bot versus Con battles." Fowler started as he handed a USB-stick over, "most of them are on there, though they may be hard to see. All we have are security-camera images, satellite-feeds and amateur footage. I want you to take a look at this whenever you can, learn a couple things about how the Cons move. And I'll share a little discovery I also told Prime. I mean, Optimus."

"Thanks." Jack said as he accepted the stick. "And what discovery is that?"

"I made it rather quickly, a couple years ago, back when the Bots and Cons first started rumbling on Earth. Cybertronians have very little actual experience in tactics. Not like we humans have."

"What'd you mean?" The statement kinda surprised Jack. He'd never considered it, never played any games that involved tactics. He much preferred racing games.

"Well, after seeing several of the battles, I noticed they tend to just pick a cover, and then keep taking potshots at each other." Fowler explained, "They usually charge in a straight line, dive for cover and keep firing at each other. There's no considering of switching positions, flanking an enemy or anything other then a basic 'keep the high-ground' and 'set an ambush' kind of thinking. I pointed it out to Prime – Optimus, sorry – and he agreed. Apparently, most of their war had been fought by both sides simply… charging at each other and laying out destruction. The same way we fought back in the dark ages."

"Really? I never even thought about it like that."

"Of course, it doesn't really become obvious until you see it from a large distance. Up close, it's not all that apparent, especially when you guys met them. By then, they'd adopted some of the basics, like moving around some more. It was pretty much the only reason they could keep up with the Cons, despite being vastly outnumbered."

"Well, that does make sense." Jack thought it over. From what he understood – which was very little – tactics could be far more effective then having a larger army. But… "What exactly does that have to do with me?"

"Well, if you're going to be leading the Bots – including me – into battle, I want you to be well aware of the advantage you hold over old Megs." Fowler stood up this time, taking a book from his bag in the process. "Optimus tried to learn some human tactics, but it was very difficult for him, because he simply wasn't used to them. You, on the other hand, are still fresh and can learn a lot. So, while you're training here, look up those videos, play some strategy games, read up on some famous battles and tactics… and try to read this book."

"The Art of War." Jack read the title aloud. He knew that book.

"One of the founding books for most military tactics, even now." Fowler said, "Try to read it, I'll see if I can send some more books your way. But in the meantime… when you've got R&R, try playing a video game or two that has you use tactics. RTS-games, shooters, that kind of thing. Should help you out a bit."

XxX

Location: Unknown location in Texas, United states

Time: 3 months since the destruction of the Autobot base.

System user: Arcee

Designation: Autobot Field Commander

Arcee looked down into the cave, scanning it for enemies. This would be the tenth raid this week, on ten different locations and often with changing members of the teams. This time, though, she felt very comfortable. She had both Bumblebee and Bulkhead at her back. The old team, reunited.

Well, almost.

Cliff and Optimus were still gone and nothing would change that.

But the security she could see meant there wouldn't be any problems. A little ways back, waiting near the opening into the caves large enough to ride through, Bulk and Bee were waiting.

"Low security." Arcee quickly said, "Standard drill. Charge in, use the confusion to our advantage, blow up the Energon stockpiles and take what we can carry with us."

"Beep-beep-boop-beep." Bee answered. Bulkhead chuckled. "You're right Bee."

"Cut the jokes, stay focused." Arcee snapped at them, "We're still outnumbered four to one in there."

Transforming into her motorcycle form, the two-wheeler took point as she led her field team in the assault. Five minutes, ten dead Decepticons, four blown up Energon stockpiles, forty stolen Energon cubes and over a dozen Energon-blaster burns and five dents later, they all rode out, loaded down with the important blue cubes.

"Hey Arcee." Bulkhead said, thirty or so miles after the left the cave. They'd need to drive through the rest of the night to reach the drop-off point, but the roads were empty anyway. "How much longer do you think we're going to be doing this?"

"What'd you mean Bulk?" Arcee asked. She hoped he wasn't going to ask the hard question…

"You know, stockpile Energon and strike at these desolated locations, instead of taking the fight to the Cons."

'_He just had to ask the hard one…_' Arcee wanted to sigh, but didn't. Instead, she gave the best answer she could. "I don't know Bulk. Fowler said there's a plan in motion and Ratchet is in on it. But they need some time. And until they say otherwise, we have to keep building up this stockpile."

"Well, too bad. I'd like nothing more then to take Starscream down a notch. But I haven't seen him in weeks."

"Don't tell me you're starting to miss him…"

"I might miss bashing his head in every so often…"

XxX

Location: New Kaon

Time: 3 months, 3 weeks since the destruction of the Autobot base

System user: Lord Megatron

Designation: Decepticon Supreme Commander.

"AARGH!" the recording died down on that scream of pain as the drone was, no doubt, engulfed in an Energon-explosion. It was the same report Megatron had been hearing for megacycles now. A mining operation was doing well, having no problems, building up enough of an Energon stock to make it worth a run with the Nemesis to pick it up, when suddenly they were attacked by the Autobots.

And before any reinforcements could be sent there via the Groundbridge, those cowards had already run. It hadn't been a problem at first, when they could only strike at small locations and Energon had been sent to New Kaon almost continuously. But recently, with most of the storage areas in New Kaon being filled up, the mines had to stockpile more and more Energon.

And the Autobots kept blowing it up!

"KNOCKOUT!" Megatron summoned his medic and last – somewhat – trusted field commander. The red medic came rushing into the throne room mere microcycles later.

"You called, my liege?" The medic kneeled.

"Soundwave has just updated me on the most recent reports, concerning the Autobot activities." Megatron pointed at his only fully trusted officer, regretting as he had so often that Soundwave was not a field leader. "I take it you are aware of the annoyance they pose?"

"Of course, my liege." The medic quickly said.

"Excellent. You will put an end to it." this seemed to get a surprised reaction from the red car, who nearly shot up. He seemed to remember where he was in time though.

"How would you have me do that, my liege?"

"By exploiting the one weakness all Autobots share." Megatron grinned, "Go after those they care about."

XxX

Location: Classified racing track Aerolesae, Eastern-Germany.

Time: 4 months since the destruction of the Autobot base

System user: Sentinel Prime

Designation: Autobot Commander

"That should be it, I think" Sentinel said as he stepped back from the large spirals. "Lets see if it works."

"Stand back everyone." Ratchet gripped the handle, slowly lowering it. "Increasing power. Activating the Groundbridge."

Sentinel, Ratchet and Fowler all watched eagerly for any reaction. Then, when the handle was almost all the way down, the machine whirled to life. Energon came flooding forward, swirling around before finally stabilizing into the familiar green tunnel.

"It works!" the joy was obvious in the old medic's voice. Not surprisingly, the previous Groundbridge had taken him nearly a year to build. In comparison, this hardly took any time. "Now, to test it. Agent Fowler, is the test subject ready?"

"And raring to go." The special agent pushed the button and the small radio-controlled car he was sending through the Groundbridge activated. "GPS is activated, let's go."

Sentinel, however, didn't pay much attention to the test, because at that moment the phone in Jack's pocket started to ring. Without looking at the screen, Sentinel picked up.

"Hello?"

"Jack?" the familiar voice on the other side of the line said, "It's Sierra. Hey, remember that cool red car that picked you up from school? I think it's kinda following me."

"What!?" the sudden shout drew the attention of both Fowler and Ratchet, who were both looking rather pleased. That probably meant that the Groundbridge worked. Good. "Are you sure?"

"Well, that car did stand out pretty well, it's customized and everything. But I don't get why it's following me."

"Where are you?"

"Just outside LA, my parents finally returned from Vegas a couple weeks ago and we're going out of town for a bit to look for a new place. Why?"

"Send me your exact location over the phone, now! You have to do it quickly, trust me!"

"Ok, I'll send it over…" There was doubt in Sierra's voice, he could hear it, but at least she did as he said.

"What's wrong?" Fowler said the moment Sentinel looked back at the other two. "That sounded pretty dangerous."

"It's Sierra, a girl from my high-school. She's being chased by Knockout." Sentinel answered. "I think I told you about her, she was also there when the con appeared in LA."

"So, you think they're after her?"

"I know it. It's not the first time she's been spotted on site with me or the Autobots. Is the Groundbridge operational?"

"It is." Ratchet confirmed, though there was doubt in his voice, "but I'd like to run some more tests first, I can't ensure safety after just one test."

"Then I'm test-subject number two." Sentinel said as he transformed. "Sierra sent me her coordinates, Bridge me there."

"You want to go up against Knockout on your own?" Fowler's look of surprise was almost comical, "Remember, this guy is no ordinary drone! He's good, he's smart and he can improvise. Not the best choice for a first encounter. Not for a one-on-one anyway."

"I don't plan on fighting him." Sentinel's headlights lid up with every syllable. "I plan on surprising him, then getting Sierra and her family out as quick as I can."

"Be careful. I'll tell the others, we'll be ready to provide backup in a couple of minutes."

"I'll be back by then."

As the Groundbridge whirled to life again, Sentinel set off. There was the familiar green flash of light, followed by brief disorientation, but then he was in a familiar sight. Endless roads and desert. And there, just ahead, the familiar red sports car was closing in on an unfamiliar family car.

As Sentinel stepped on it, Knockout drove past the family car, suddenly transformed and used his arms to stop the car. Although he couldn't see what the red machine was saying, he did see Sierra and her family step out of the car. He increased his speed.

"After all, I'm a redhead too." Sentinel could barely hear the last sentence Knockout uttered, aiming his shockrod at the family, before he slammed into the doctor. The impact, which the Decepticon had apparently not expected at all – thank Primus he had remembered to make the entire machine sound-proof – sent the red robot flying and stumbling in the sand.

At a mental command, all the doors on the car flew open while Sentinel quickly span to a stop.

"GET IN!" Jack commanded. Sierra looked highly surprised, but fortunately did as he said. Her parents were only a second behind. The doors slammed shut the moment they were inside.

"Buckle up and hold on."

"Wow…" Sierra let out a breath of relief as she buckled herself in. "This is one hell of a cool car. What is it with you and cool cars? Or giant robots, for that matter?"

"I'll explain as best I can later, now we have to get out of here."

Behind them, Knockout was already getting back on his feet and he looked pissed. Sentinel increased his speed to the max.

"Is this a Vey-" Sierra's dad started.

"Yes." Jack simply answered as he accelerated more and more. "Ratchet, it's me." He suddenly spoke aloud, much to the surprise of the others. Their surprise increased tenfold when a voice, seemingly from nowhere, answered.

"Go ahead."

"I've got them, but Knockout is hot on my tail. Going to try and shake him, but I'll need a Groundbridge ready to Bridge us back to base."

"You want to bring them to the base?" Jack wasn't sure if Ratchet's horror was at the idea of more people knowing the location of their base, of the simple idea of having more humans at the base. Either could work, he supposed.

"They've been singled out by Knockout, that means they're in danger until this whole thing is over. Prepare to bridge us."

"Fine." The medic's sigh was audible even over the radio. "Preparing the bridge."

"Hey Jack." Sierra's mom started, turned around to look out the rear-view mirror as she was, "we're losing him!"

Just then, a very large green portal opened up in front of them, earning three screams, while Sentinel hit the brakes hard. Green enveloped them, and then Sentinel burst out of the Groundbridge portal back in Germany, screeching to a halt just before he hit the wall.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Sierra yelled, while at the same time her mom let out a scream. Her dad, on the other hand, looked around the sudden change of location, saw Ratchet standing there and let out a scream before fainting.

"How'd it go?" Fowler asked, running over as soon as Sentinel came to a stop. Turning around, Jack looked at Sierra's mother – who was finally stopping her screaming but had also noticed Ratchet – and tried to calm her down. Fowler's appearance also seemed to help. Vince and Miko came running in a few moments later as well.

"I outraced Knockout, bridged out before we could take the chase anywhere else."

"Vince!?" Sierra suddenly recognized the boy who was now helping her dad out of the car. Apparently she was still very surprised. "Wow, I hardly recognized you, you look really different. Then again… so do Jack and Miko. What're you all doing here? And what's that thing? Is that little kid with the glasses – Raf? – here as well?"

"I didn't get a chance to get her up-to-speed." Jack defended himself as Fowler and Miko looked at him. "On anything!"

"Well, let's get them out of here first." Fowler decided. "With the Groundbridge operational again, we're going to call in the other Bots. Once they learn of the new team's existence we can finally get started on our counter-attack."

XxX

Location: Fifty-nine miles outside of Los Angeles, California, United States of America.

Time: 4 months since the destruction of the Autobot base.

System user: Knockout

Designation: Decepticon, Chief Medical Officer.

"Megatron is not going to be happy about this…" Knockout felt like hitting something, but that'd hardly be effective. It'd only put more scratches on his paint. And that was the last thing he wanted right now. That surprise attack had put some scratches on him. SCRATCHES! Those were the absolute worst to get out of his paintjob.

"Knockout to base." he finally radioed in. "My target escaped through a Groundbridge. She didn't get assistance from an Autobot, but this still proves she is closely connected to them."

"I don't care if the girl is connected to all of them, unless she's controlling them!" Megatron growled back through the connection. "It's time for a change of plans. Soundwave has located the shelter those insects used when they fled the settlement near New Kaon. Take a squad there and EXTERMINATE THEM!"

"As you command, my liege."

XxX

Location: Classified racing track Aerolesae, eastern-Germany.

Time: 4 months since the destruction of the Autobot base. Twenty minutes after the rescue of Sierra.

System user: Vincent 'Vince' Dicolleta

Designation: Autobot 'Hotrod'

Vince was at a loss. He was sitting in a lounging area – dubbed 'the living room' now that they were all living there – with Sierra and her parents, trying to calm them down. So far, it wasn't going well.

"Why is there another of those giant robots here?" Sierra's mom asked for what must've been the third time by now. Her question was, as before, drowned out by the torrent of questions that Sierra was asking. Her father was mostly just sitting there, staring. Vince didn't even want to think what was going through his head.

"Again, the large white-and-orange robot is on our side. The robots have multiple factions that are at war. One of them is launching the full-scale war; the other is on our side. Unfortunately, the team on our side is vastly outnumbered, so they're doing more support work."

Honestly, he was getting annoyed that he was put on duty for taking care of these people. Especially since Jack, Miko, Fowler and Ratchet were bridging the other Autobots in for a debriefing. He wanted to be there, to finally see them. He'd have to wait until the news of Team Sentinel had been broken to them.

"What's that?" Sierra's dad suddenly asked, pointing to the large TV on the other wall. Turning around to look at it, Vince felt his heart skip several beats when he saw the title on the screen.

Shelter under attack by the robot aliens

Running over to the TV, he quickly upped the volume.

"-lter in Nevada, where some people have been hiding as long as four months, is now under attack. The military is launching an emergency response. We will report more as the story develops."

"No…" this time it was Sierra's mom who passed out. Vince, for his part, was locked staring at the screen for several seconds, images flashing in front of his eyes.

_A dark-grey jet flying in. _

_Dad teaching him how to drive_

_The car in front of him exploding. _

_Mom helping him with homework he didn't understand._

_Waking up. _

_Jen walking into his room, telling him his outfit to the dance is utterly ridiculous, before _

_helping him pick out something new._

_Everyone's dead. _

_Starscream laughing._

"No." Vince's words came out a sharp whisper. "Not again. not this time." an instant later he was turning around and ran towards where Jack and the others – no. Sentinel and his team – were still talking.

He arrived moments later, Sierra chasing after him and barely keeping up.

"Jasper is under attack!" were the first words out of his mouth.

"Vince?" the large blue female robot –Arcee, he'd wager – sounded very surprised. So they hadn't told them anything yet.

"Jasper is an empty shell right now." the big green Bulkhead added. "What's it matter if it's under attack?"

"Not the town, the shelter!" Sierra – who was surprisingly unfazed by the multitude or giant alien robots in front of her – added. This finally got a response from the others. Ratchet and Rafael both started working on their computers, screens lighting up moments later to highlight the attack force. Vince counted over forty dots before he stopped.

"Scrap." Arcee cursed. "What're we going to do? Knockout is leading that team, it won't be as easy as the raids we've been doing."

"That's easy." The mainly white car said – either Wheeljack or Smokescreen, it was hard for Vince to tell – "we're going in there, save the humans and show the cons just what the Wreckers can do."

"It won't be that easy Wheeljack." The other white robot said, "They seriously outnumber us and this time, we'll be fighting them on open ground."

"Go." Jack suddenly said. Vince recognized that tone of voice. Jack had started to grow more and more into his role as leader and whenever he had a moment of confidence – or when the Matrix was in control – he'd sound somewhat different from normal.

"Jack?"

"You guys go and delay the Cons." He explained. "In the meantime, we'll extract the people in the shelter with the Groundbridge. Once they're all gone, you can just return here with the Groundbridge. All you need to do is delay them, not defeat them."

"You want to bring more humans into the base!?" Ratchet sounded somewhat horrified at the very idea. Jack turned to look at him. His face was oddly enough completely neutral. That probably meant the Matrix was active.

"Ratchet, the time for secrecy is over. We have all the tools we need to bring the fight to an even point. It's time the people of earth learn that they're not alone in this fight. So yes, we will be bringing in more humans here, until the shelter is empty and then we'll get to work on sending them elsewhere. Fowler, how many people are there in the shelter?"

"Last count suggests that it's around two thousand people still in there. We've been doing small scale extractions for months; most of the town is already safe."

"Good. Call in the soldiers around this base, we'll need them to ensure that everyone stays as calm as can be. Let's go."

Vince didn't even consider it odd when the larger-then-life robots all transformed back and raced through the Groundbridge at Jack's order.

XxX

Location: Classified racing track Aerolesae, eastern-Germany.

Time: 4 months since the destruction of the Autobot base. Three minutes after the departure of the Autobot team

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Autobot Commander

Jack stood with tension in his body as he looked at the screen. The blue dots that indicated the Autobots were moving around a lot and the black Decepticon dots were being diminished, but not nearly as fast as he'd liked.

"Jack, we should be out there!" Miko yelled, turning from the screen towards him. "This is what we trained for! Why are we not helping them?"

"Because we're not ready." Jack replied, taking his eyes of the screen to look at the Japanese girl. "We trained and are finally a coherent unit, but we do not have the experience needed to take out a superior group like that! We'll just be in their way."

"Then what exactly was your plan for us? Huh? Wait until we have an encounter where we outnumber the Cons?"

"No. Work on small-scale missions until we've built up some experience and we can work with the others in the field. Otherwise, we'll just be a limitation for them. They've faced worse odds then this before."

"Yeah, they might have. But have you forgotten? That was when Optimus was still around. Not to mention that the Cons didn't have their new upgrades back then!"

"They fought those battles without Optimus. They can do this. They have to."

"Son." Fowler spoke up, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder. "They may have fought those battles without Optimus in their midst, but they had him in their mind. That's what a good leader can do. Inspire his men, even when he's not at their side. But I agree with your point. Until we've learned how we act in real battle, not just simulations, we shouldn't engage an army that size."

"Wheeljack just took a hit!" Raf shouted as the Wrecker's energy-signature lowered. "He's still operational and can continue the fight, but he's hurt."

Jack looked around the room, feeling a lot of eyes on him all of a sudden. Miko was looking at him, eyes on the brim of tears. Raf wasn't looking, busy working on his laptop. Ratchet, likewise, was working on his computer, but kept glancing at the teen every once in a while. Vince stood a ways back, face tense but eyes focused. Sierra just looked confused, still not knowing what was going on. Mom looked scared.

Fowler locked eyes with him, then stepped back.

"It's not my call." He said, standing at attention. "You've got command in all matters related to the Autobots." Jack took a deep breath.

"Ratchet, give me a status update. How long till the Groundbridge is ready to bring the civilians out?"

"The Groundbridge is ready and waiting." The medic replied, "The soldiers will need another five minutes to prepare for escorting the civilians."

"And the battle?"

"Wheeljack is injured, but it appears to be a minor wound. The others are rapidly going through their supplies of Energon, but are fairing well. Of the fifty-eight Decepticons, forty-nine are still functional."

"Only nine Cons down, but one of ours is injured. And we're running out…They can do it. I know they can."

The soldiers marched into the base, ready to escort the people out of the shelter through the Groundbridge, when the radio burst to life again.

"Arcee to base, come in!"

"Arcee, Raf here. What's up?"

"_We need a Groundbridge on our coordinates, now!_" the female robot's voice was loaded with tension. The fight had only been going on for a few minutes, how bad could it have become? A look at the screen told Jack just how bad.

Smokescreen was down to a quarter of his Energon and with injuries. Wheeljack was in statis-lock. The original Team Prime was functioning, but they were now facing a three-versus-forty battle.

"Hold on." Jack heard himself say. He had made his decision before he had thought about it. "I have a better idea. Hold your ground for just a few more seconds."

He looked around the room on more time. This time he saw more then he had ever seen before. Fear. Anger. Confusion. Love. Pride. But most of all, Jack saw one thing in the eyes of all his friends.

Hope.

"Fowler, Miko, Vince." He said, having made his decision. "Suit up. We're going to join the battle. Ratchet, the moment we're through, Bridge the civilians out. Mom, Sierra, you two help out the soldiers. The people in Jasper know you two; they'll be more at ease."

"Suh-wheet! What's the plan?" Miko asked as she joined the others in their flat sprint to their vehicles. Fortunately, the machines were in the very same room. They had been planning to tell the other Autobots about them, after all.

"_What idea Jack?_" Arcee's voice sounded over the radio, though she sounded both surprised and terrified at the same time. "_We're pinned down, Wheeljack and Smokescreen are down. We can not continue this fight!_"

"Just hold on a few seconds." He repeated, "We're going to open the Groundbridge on the other side of the Decepticons."

"A flanking maneuver!" Fowler sounded pleasantly surprised at the idea. "Excellent!"

"More than that." Jack started, but Arcee broke up his explanation.

"_WHAT!? We can't make it across this battlefield!"_

"We're not pulling you out. We're sending in reinforcements." He turned back to Fowler, who was already pulling himself into Jetfire's cockpit. "You go through the Bridge first, but on a location some distance away. You fly in once we've cut down their flyers, surprise them."

"_What kind of reinforcements?"_

This time Jack didn't reply. He didn't have time. Instead, he explained the rest of his plan.

"Hotrod, Heavyarms and I Bridge in behind the Cons, take out their flyers. We strike fast and hard. Once that's over, Jetfire comes in from the side and blasts them to pieces. We'll have them trapped in a killing ground."

"What about the others?" Heavyarms asked, revving up her engine. Jack opened the radio, replying to Arcee's question at the same time as Heavyarms'.

"_Just open fire on the Cons with everything you have when I give the order!"_ closing the radio signal, he contacted the others. "Status report."

"Jetfire, all systems primed and ready."

"Hotrod, all systems go."

"Heavyarms, ready and waiting."

"Sentinel Prime, online." Sentinel's engine roared to life along with the others. "Let's go. It's time to fight for Freedom!"

With that, the Groundbridge opened as Jetfire's thruster roared to life. An instant later the large jet was through the green portal, which closed and opened again almost immediately. The trio of Autobot warriors raced through, ready for combat.

XxX

Location: Classified racing track Aerolesae, eastern-Germany.

Time: 4 months since the destruction of the Autobot base. After the Battle for the Jasper Shelter.

System user: Sentinel Prime

Designation: Autobot Commander

"By Primus, I can't believe it!" Ratchet exclaimed as the group of Autobots – larger then any he'd seen in years! – returned through the Groundbridge. "You did it! You defeated the Decepticons."

"Only in this one battle." Sentinel replied. "I trust all the human civilians are safely evacuated?"

"Naturally! That's why it took me so long to Bridge you back. They're outside, under escort of the soldiers. It seems most of them are beyond relieved to just see the sky."

"Not surprising." Jetfire said, ducking through the Groundbridge into the base. "They did spend four months in an underground facility."

"How's Wheeljack doing?" Sentinel asked. The injured Wrecker had been extracted immediately after the fighting was done so Ratchet could get to work, but afterwards the Groundbridge had been occupied for hours with the extraction of the people in the shelter. It also made sure the people wouldn't stop to gawk at Ratchet.

"He's still in stasis for the time being, but he'll manage. I've managed to repair most damage, but he'll need some time to recover. I've also put Smokescreen into Stasis for the time, so I can better assess his damage before I start his recovery. It doesn't seem to be anything permanent though."

"Glad to hear it." Bulkhead sighed, while Bumblebee beeped in agreement.

"So, what's the story?" Arcee asked, crossing her arms as she turned towards Sentinel. "Where'd the new Prime come from?"

"I'll explain." Sentinel said as he transformed into vehicle mode. "This should make a lot of things clear, right?" Jack said as he stepped out of the vehicle. Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee are bore identical looks of supreme surprise.

"I'm the new Prime."

XxX

Location: New Kaon

Time: 4 months since the successful destruction of Optimus Prime

System user: Lord Megatron

Designation: Decepticon Supreme Commander

"Knockout, this does not look like a triumphant return." Megatron said as the red car stumbled out of the Groundbridge portal. "You only had to face down a handful of leaderless Autobots! What! Happened!"

"Apologies my liege, but… it didn't go as planned."

"That much I can see. What happened?" Stepping closer to the medic, Megatron glared at his subordinate. Starscream, a little ways back, stepped back. He'd been the victim of this look often.

"Ehm, I… I had the Autobots pinned down. Wheeljack was out of commission and Smokescreen was down as well."

"And then?"

"More Autobots arrived. They ambushed us."

"What?!" this time Megatron stepped back. "More Autobots?" but there were no other Autobots left alive on this planet. How could they…

"Of course!" Megatron relaxed his posture as he stepped back. "Optimus has brought back more Autobots before he perished. He did, after all, possess a Space Bridge for a time, however short."

But if they had been on Earth all this time? Why hadn't they shown themselves before now?

"Ehm, my liege…" Knockout groveled. The fact he hadn't run away to clean himself up immediately meant he still had something important to tell.

"Yes, Knockout?"

"One of the Autobots… he said he's…. I overheard him saying…"

"Spit it out already."

"One of the new Autobots, the leader of this band, said that he was a Prime."

This didn't seem to get the reaction Knockout had expected. The moment the last word left his mouth, the doctor flinched back, obviously expecting an explosion of anger. Instead, Megatron simply sat down in his throne.

"Is that so?" He questioned aloud, "a new Prime? I would say it is impossible, but Optimus has never disappointed me in the past. At least we know Optimus is gone. Hmm…. Yesssss."

For a few moments, the Decepticon supreme commander simply sat there thinking. The others were just about to step forward, when he finally made up his mind.

"Contact Cybertron." He commanded, "It is time Shockwave returned to our ranks. With his creations, finding the Autobots will be of little problem."

Soundwave, ever the silent but loyal subordinate, raised an arm and the Space Bridge opened in the middle of the large throne room. Shockwave, never surprised even after all this time, walked through moments later. Large shadows followed behind him.

"Greetings, Lord Megatron. I have returned." Shockwave gave a deep bow to his lord and master.

XXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXxxxx xxxx

"**Fine then!" Sentinel shouted. "Grimlock, I'll take you on by myself!" **

"**It appears I have been underestimating Sentinel after all." Megatron announced, though only Starscream, Shockwave and Soundwave would ever hear it. reaching behind his throne, the Supreme Commander retrieved his Dark Star Sabre. "It is time I took care of this… personally."**

A/N: as always thanks to my beta, Kushin-eX. also, an author's note. the Season 3 eps have just started and Megatron has apparently decided not to call his fortress New Kaon... but since i've already used the name before in this fic, I'll keep it in use. i hope eveyone enjoys the new season.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of it's associated media.

XXXXXxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXxxxxxx

Location: New Kaon

Time: 4 months since the successful destruction of Optimus Prime

System user: Lord Megatron

Designation: Decepticon Supreme Commander

"Shockwave!" Megatron greeted his old and trusted ally, "I trust your research has made great advancements since we last met?"

"Indeed my liege." The large purple scientist kneeled in a practiced motion, keeping his eye on the floor. "After the destruction of my second Space Bridge, I recovered what remained of my previous laboratories and started anew. Not only have I rediscovered and created modifications to current Space- and Groundbridge technology, I have also gathered quite an unexpected result from salvaging my former research lab."

"The lab that was destroyed when you opened the first Space Bridge?" Megatron signaled for the scientist to rise.

"Yes." Shockwave confirmed. "The portal that brought you and the Autobot ship, known as the Ark, here was created from that base. Unfortunately, my recent experiments to create new shock troops escaped custody and ended up destroying both my base and the Space Bridge. I barely escaped the wreckage, despite my injuries."

With this, he lifted the arm-cannon at his side. Megatron had noticed that the purple robot's arm was gone, but he didn't question it. Shockwave always had reasons for everything. At his side, Starscream suddenly looked very uneasy, but Megatron didn't press his second-in-command.

"Yet when I searched the remains of my base, I found the source of the destruction. The remains of the Autobot team known as Lightning Strike Coalition, who I had outfitted with new forms based on this planet's life forms. The enhancements I made allowed them to survive even the destruction of the base, though they were all in Stasis. Their combat prowess was more impressive then I had first estimated, so I set to recovering them. In doing so, I located the remains of a fifth member near the original tower. This subject, too, was recovered and upgraded."

"So, you restored the creatures that singlehandedly wiped out your army of assistants and destroyed your base?" Starscream's voice was heavy on the sarcasm; no doubt the coward was wondering why Shockwave would restore so powerful a foe. "And to add to that, you added to their ranks!?"

"Indeed." Shockwave confirmed, "To prevent a similar incident from occurring, I have created controlling devices for each of them. With these devices interrupting their neural functions, they will follow all orders with absolute obedience. My liege, I present to you… the Dinobots!"

With that Shockwave stepped aside and five of the massive creatures stepped forward. Despite the alterations made by Shockwave, Megatron had little difficulty recognizing them. They had foiled his plans back on Cybertron more then once when they were in the war. But more then any other, he recognized the massive creature standing in front of them, their leader. And he remembered well the pains he had suffered at his hands.

"Kneel to your lord and master." Starscream commanded from next to Megatron. If Shockwave was right, then something he had never thought possible. But it was so. Grimlock, the strongest and proudest warrior to ever walk Cybertron, went down on one knee.

"Me Grimlock," The massive and overall powerful warrior said as he kneeled, "Bow to Master, Lord Megatron."

"Impressive." Megatron exhaled. Regardless of Shockwave's assurance, he couldn't help but feel on edge by being so close to Grimlock. Megatron feared nothing, but caution was always warranted around Grimlock. "Very impressive Shockwave. But what is your other creature?"

"A creature I have created based on some resents discoveries. Several Gigacycles ago, while I was excavating an old dig site, I found trace amounts of cyber-nuclear acid. With time, I proved able to recreate this, my liege. A Predacon. Come forth, Predaking."

The sheer size of the primal creature was enough to dwarf even Grimlock, its jaw opening to reveal rows of quickly rotating blades, designed to tear through Cybertronian skin. Heat was gathering inside the creature, but nothing came of it. Large claws carved deep into the floors of New Kaon, but all eyes were on the once extinct creature of Ancient Cybertron.

"This creature," Starscream weakly began, standing at the side of Megatron's throne, "the histories clearly state that Predacons are primal, vicious creatures that devour any other Cybertronian life form they encounter. Including us."

There, Megatron had to admit Starscream had a point: the histories were conclusive on that subject. But Shockwave already had an answer for that.

"I integrated a loyalty program into the breeding progress. The creature is completely loyal to me and will only attack those that I deem it's target. Such as all those who wear Autobot shields."

"Once again, Shockwave, you impress me." Megatron announced, standing from his throne, "And I will soon find a purpose for your discoveries. But… I still remember the last time you claimed to have Grimlock and his companions under control. And how they were on the battlefields of Cybertron. Their prowess in combat was matched only by their stubborn nature and unyielding spirit. Unless I have more proof that they will not return to our enemy's side upon seeing their old companions, keep them off the field."

"Of course, my liege." Shockwave bowed again. The decision, after all, held logic. The Dinobots had proven… problematic in the past. "Should you wish to acquire proof of their loyalty and effectiveness, I recommend you deploy them in several controlled field tests."

"An excellent idea." Starscream quickly agreed, though the fear was still obvious in his voice.

XxX

Location: Aerosol, Germany.

Time: 16 hours after first battle between Sentinel Prime and the Decepticon forces.

System user: Jackson Darby

Designation: Autobot Commander.

"Alright, can everyone hear me?" Jack asked, looking around the room. Fowler was standing a little to his left; Raf to his right, with Miko, Vince, mom and Sgt. Ermey completed the table. Behind them, filling up the rest of the cargo bay they were using for their strategic briefing, stood the Autobots, all gazing down at the gathering of humans. A string of confirmations followed.

"Here's the situation: the Cons have a stronghold in central Asia that we're going to attack. This particular site is in a mountain range, which means we'll have trouble maneuvering, but should easily get the drop on them. This is one of the largest known Energon mines. We're going to hit it hard and fast, but keep as much of the Energon intact as we can. We need it to take care of ourselves. The stockpiles you've gathered in the past few months will last us a while, but with our increase in numbers, the Groundbridge and the fact that we'll be engaging in more combat from this point on, we will burn through it quickly."

"Estimates show that the Energon supplies we have now will last us for another two months at peak capacity." Ratchet supplied. "The more we regain with every strike, the better."

"Why aren't we striking directly at Con-Central?" Wheeljack immediately added, "We've got the numbers now, we launch an attack, take out the cons and steal their supply simple."

"Are you crazy?" Vince asked the large white Bot, raising an eyebrow, "We have some more numbers, but we're still far outmatched. Attacking their stronghold is suicide."

"We keep using these bug bites, Megs will just keep creating new drones for us to fight. With his numbers and fortress, we need the element of surprise to turn the tide. We still have it, I say we use it."

"No, Vince is right. A direct assault on New Kaon will end in a massacre." Fowler leaned forward, both hands on the table. "We need to work as a fluid team, no doubts or questions, for such an attack. I don't think we're that far yet."

"Action breeds the connection." Arcee said, though it was hard to tell who she agreed with.

"Which is exactly why you should all focus on getting experience as a team." June supplied. "Small, low-risk strikes until you operate fluidly."

"Low-risk? We're the Bots, and I'm a Wrecker." Miko sounded highly insulted by the suggestion. "We don't do low-risk. We'll hit them hard and fast and right where it hurts!"

"Miko, we do try to be careful." Bulkhead cautioned, though this got him a strange look from Wheeljack.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" The shout echoed through the room, until everyone looked at Ermey. His voice was almost echoing through the room. With a look of pure iron, he spoke up. "Your commanding officer is trying to brief you on a mission and give you your orders. There was no question for the debate you are having. So be silent and listen to the orders you are given, questions can be asked after." He turned to look at Jack, gave a nod, and then seemed to relax his posture.

"Yes, thanks Sergeant." Jack nodded back. "Now, as I was about to say, I am going to divide you into teams for this strike. Team one will consist of Bulkhead, Jetfire and I. Team two is Arcee, Hotrod and Heavyarms while team three is Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Smokescreen. Team one will find a suitable combat position, and then prepare it into a killing ground. Team two will lay low near the entrance of the mine, while Team three lures the cons out. Once they're out, Team three moves towards the killing zone Team one has prepared, with Team two behind them to box them in. The moment they enter the killzone, Team three turns around and we have our target boxed in.

Once that happens, we blast the cons till they all join the Allspark. Once we've taken care of most of their guards, Team two will begin a perimeter check to keep an eye on our surroundings, Team three will scout deep into the mines while Team one engages any leftover forces. Stick with your team at all costs and remember your objectives. Should Team three encounter any forces larger then two cons, they are to lure them back towards team one for an ambush."

"Hell of a plan." Wheeljack supplied. "It has most of us running around doing nothing, or running from the cons."

"It does sound a bit strange." Smokescreen carefully said, though he didn't sound too critical, "but I suppose that's the point. If it's strange to us, it's strange to the Cons. And strange might be just what we need."

"Good." Jack finally said, "Everyone prepare for battle, be ready for departure in ten minutes."

Sure enough, eight minutes later, the entire team of Autobots stood at the ready, waiting for the Groundbridge portal to open. Before Jack went into his vehicle, he spared a last look at the control panel. Making eye contact with Sergeant Ermey, he gave another nod of gratitude. The Sergeant nodded back once, then turned around and started a conversation with June. With a sigh, Jack sat down and activated Sentinel.

The engines around the room roared to live, headlights flashing to indicate readiness and the green portal appeared mere moments later. With Bullhead and Wheeljack taking point, the group quickly moved through, entering the clearing half a mile away from their target. The small clearing filled up in moments.

"All right, you have your orders. Teams, spread out." for a moment there was a multitude of noises as several engines started, Jetfire transformed into robot mode – his flying would immediately be noticed and ruin the element of surprise – and the various teams set off.

"Keep your eyes open for a good location." Sentinel told his squad. Both of the larger bots gave nods as they kept up their slow move. Finally, they found a good location. It allowed Jetfire and Bulkhead to take high positions, while it also gave Sentinel some cover on a ground level. Once the Cons lined up, he'd be able to smash right through them.

"**Found a couple lone Cons."** Wheeljack radioed. Before Sentinel could respond to tell him the location of the kill zone, there was a loud noise. From somewhere further up in the mountains, closer to the mine, smoke rose to accompany the explosions.

"Wheeljack, what are you doing?" Sentinel yelled into the com. That wasn't the plan! "You're supposed to lure them back here!"

"**Relax, it's only two Cons. They're already scrap metal."**

From somewhere else on the mountain, further in, another explosion was heard. After another few moments, the explosions stopped.

"**Arcee here, encountered a lone patrol. They're out. Proceeding to the mine."**

"You're supposed to lure them back here!" Sentinel repeated.

"**Didn't have the time."** The fembot replied**, "Was a small patrol, luring them back would've taken too much time."**

"What's done is done, keep to the plan from now on."

"**Will do, I – oh scrap!"** Arcee's curse was followed by another multitude of explosions.

"What's happening?" Worry grabbed Sentinel's heart, but Arcee responded a moment later.

"**Cons. They found us. We've taken cover, we'll need a few moments." **

From somewhere else, more explosions followed.

"**Same here!"** Smokescreen said, **"We've got about eight Vehicons firing at us. Should only be a few moments before we're done."**

"Damn it!" Sentinel cursed. Why was nothing going according to plan?

"They need help!" Bulkhead was already transformed and underway before Sentinel really knew he'd said anything. Confused, he looked at Jetfire. The large flyer hadn't moved, instead focusing on Sentinel.

"Two-tons is right." The flyer started, "They might need some help. What's the plan, sir?"

But Sentinel had no response. They had a plan, but it wasn't followed. Now what'd they do? He didn't have a backup plan. Optimus had never made a backup plan; his plans always seemed to work. What would Optimus do?

Well, that was obvious. He'd save them.

"Jetfire, take to the skies, try to pull some of the Skycons away. I'll go help Team Two."

"Roger." With a road the thrusters in Jetfire's feet came to life and he was lifted up. Once he had some velocity, he transformed into jet mode and shot off. Sentinel also set off as quick as he could. He found Team Two some moments later, with just one Con left standing. As he arrived, Hotrod finished off the last Con in a wave of fire. The blast was far too hot for the robot, parts of his body – including his face – melting off as he screamed.

"Jack? What're you doing here?" Arcee sounded surprised when she saw the blue Prime. "You're supposed to stay at the kill zone."

"I thought you'd need help." He said. Now that he was there, he realized how weak it sounded. They'd been pinned by about eight Vehicons, true, but Arcee could often handle that many on her own, give time. With backup, especially as powerful as Heavyarms, it really wasn't a question that they'd be victorious.

"Dude, you're completely ruining the plan!" Heavyarms supplied, one hand on her hip, while she facepalmed with the other. "Get back to where you're supposed to be! We'll lure them out in a moment."

"Jetfire here, I got their attention. Got several bogies on my tail. Could use some help."

How was he supposed to help Jetfire? Sentinel couldn't fly! But how had they handled flyers in the past?

'_Of course.'_ Sentinel felt like slapping himself when he looked at Heavyarms' shoulder-mounted Gatling gun. They could still blast them down.

"I hear you Jetfire." He radioed back, "Can you pull them over to us? We'll shoot some of them down, should ease things up for you."

"Roger."

Just as Jetfire was approaching though, sounds of other battles could be heard nearby.

"**Sentinel, sir."**Smokescreen's voice came over the radio, **"Bulkhead arrived to provide backup, but there're more Cons pouring out of the mines."**

Jetfire was closing in. The Cons were hot on his tail. But Team three was also pinned down. They'd need a response from him. What was he supposed to do? Nothing was going as planned.

"Lock targets and open fire." Sentinel finally said. Arcee and Heavyarms didn't need to be told twice. Hotrod had moved forward, hidden from view from the Cons and waited until they were closer. Sentinel joined his blasters to the two females'. Jetfire quickly pulled up, evading the shots, but the Skycons didn't have the time. Four of them went down almost immediately. The remaining two tried to pull up, but they were too late. Hotrod's flamethrower captured both of them, quickly returning them to nothing.

And just as the last Skycons were taken down, a series of massive explosions erupted from inside the mountain.

"What was that!" Hotrod screamed, stepping away from the still burning Cons. More explosions were following, all of them coming from inside the mine.

"**Had to improvise."** Wheeljack explained over the radio. **"We were getting swarmed by the Cons, so I threw a grenade. Wiped out most of them, but the Energon deposit was closer then I'd thought."**

More explosions rocked through the mountain. Sentinel could see cracks start to appear all over.

"Can you go in to grab some of the Energon?"

"**Only if we'd move straight through the inferno."**

"Then… we'll return to entry point and Groundbridge back to base."

As Sentinel and the other Autobots returned to the clearing, a thought crept up on him.

'_Can I really lead them, if this is how it'll end?'_

XxX

Location: Aerosol, Germany.

Time: 32 hours since the failed attack on an Energon mine in central Asia.

System user: Sentinel Prime

Designation: Autobot Commander.

For the second time in as many days, Sentinel had gathered his forces. This briefing, however, he did in full robot form. The rest of his team was all in the same state. June, Ermey and Rafael stood on an elevated platform, on a similar height as Sentinel's face. Raf had control over the holographic projection. The holographic projection – a new creation that Ratchet had finished mere hours before, based on a suggestion from Raf – showed a city.

"We've just received word from command." Ermey started, "Enemy forces have attacked Port Harcourt, a major port city in Nigeria, Africa. We do not know the motive behind the attack, or the method involved, but the attack was more brutal then any previous Decepticon attack. At around 13:00 local time the city was attacked and in less then two hours much of the city is destroyed. We have no estimates on survivors, captures or anything of the sort. We are still working on getting satellite imagery, but for the moment, we're blind."

"How did a major city get under attack without anyone finding out for hours on end, sir?" Hotrod asked. He stood with his back straight, looking directly at the sergeant for his answer. Only Jetfire showed a similar level of discipline, standing still while all the others kept moving around to look at the map.

"We're not sure yet." Ermey admitted, "But the M.O. is different from usual Decepticon attacks. Previous attacks have had the enemy arrive in their target city via traditional transport and strike from the outside in. This attack originated from the center of the city and spread out from there, as best we can tell. The military presence in the city is weak at best and response units had their hands full trying to keep order. What little we do know is that the attackers were large and vicious, attacking buildings and causing massive amounts of collateral damage."

"Satellite images online." Raf stated, still typing away on his laptop. "Integrating them into the map now. Red dots are known Decepticon signatures."

The hologram shook for a second and then numerous red dots appeared. Most were isolated, or in small groups, but there was a large ring of dots around the center of the city. The Cons were there in force.

"What're they doing?" June gasped as she saw parts of the ring slowly expand.

"Elimination." Bulkhead sounded very grim as he spoke. "They're setting up a ring as a point of defense, but since they're moving out, they're using to systematically destroy the city."

"We still have civilians in there!" Jetfire's shouted in anger. His face was contoured in pure rage, but he still stood still. "We need to get in there, now!" the last part was directed straight at Sentinel.

"You're right." The Prime stepped forward. "There are still numerous civilians in the city; reports indicate that barely a tenth of the people were evacuated. We'll be going in and strike the Cons fast and hard. Our objective is to get them out of the city so that evacuation can proceed. We want to save as much human lives as possible, so aim your shots and try to keep collateral to a minimum."

A series of nods, an affirmative from Wheeljack and a 'Yes Sir' from Hotrod followed before he continued.

"As for our plan. We can't afford to take their entire army head on; we have to divide them into smaller groups that we can take out. Arcee, Wheeljack and Smokescreen, you're the fastest drivers, you're lure them away. Meanwhile Bulkhead, Heavyarms, Hotrod and Bumblebee will set up areas to kill the Cons. Keep on the move, change the area often, but radio us where you're going. Jetfire is going to patrol the skies, taking out any flyers who might take us by surprise. I'll be assisting the speed team. Memorize the map, we'll need it. Keep in mind, we are fighting in a city. That means we have the advantage over any Skycons, who'll have difficulty flying in between the buildings."

"What do we do if we find survivors?" Heavyarms leaned forward. Most likely she didn't like the plan – after all, it meant she wouldn't get to charge at the cons – but she did know the importance of protecting lives.

"Help them get out and ensure they'll reach a safe location." Sentinel replied. "We don't have the means to bring large numbers of people away from the city, but if you help them reach a shelter of sorts, that should work."

"Huh?" Heavyarms looked up from the map, "Get them to safety, but don't move too far?"

"Exactly. Now, everyone prepare for battle. The more time we waste here, the more people die."

At Sentinel's cue, the entire team transformed into vehicle mode, engines roaring to live. Ratchet opened the Groundbridge and the instant it was formed they all raced through. Straight into Armageddon.

As Sentinel appeared out of the green portal, he was already being shot at. The Cons in the area had seen the Groundbridge portal open and had immediately opened fire. Well over a dozen Vehicons and some eight Skycons were shooting at them. Sentinel quickly drove through, evading most of the blasts as he went. Wheeljack was already ahead, his swords swirling and swinging, destroying Cons all around him, while Hotrod was in another area, his flames devouring three Vehicons at once.

Taking aim, Sentinel opened fire on a Vehicon that was about to blindside the flame-user, but his blasts weren't strong enough to penetrate his Energon-barrier. Instead, the Vehicon turned towards the Prime and opened fire of his own. Dodging to the side, Sentinel was quickly engaged in a firefight with the Vehicon, until it was suddenly blasted to bits when Heavyarms opened fire on it with her Gatling gun.

Before Sentinel could thank her, however, he was knocked to the side by an explosion, courtesy of a Skycon's missile. As he rolled over, getting his feet under him, he saw Arcee jumping up and grabbing on to the Skycon. At that close range, her blasts tore right through the Skycon's weak plating, causing it to crash. Wheeljack jumped aside just in time to avoid getting hit by the crash. Bulkhead charged through a moment after, flames still erupting from the wreckage and smashed three Vehicons to bits in seconds.

Bumblebee came charging by, but he was blindsided by a Vehicon, sending him flying. Transforming in mid-air, the scout quickly blasted his attacker, and then turned around to face two others. He didn't see the Skycons taking aim at his position. Sentinel did and quickly opened fire, but the flying opponents split up and easily evaded the blasts. Jetfire shot past a moment later, three more Skycons hot on his tail and shooting.

"We need to dig in!" Wheeljack shouted as he grabbed his most recent kill and used it as a shield to the attacks aimed at him.

"Negative!" Jetfire replied, deploying flares to negate a missile that a Skycon had fired, "We need to get out of here. More are coming and fast."

In the relative silence that followed – there were still a good number of blasts being exchanged, but to Sentinel it suddenly felt silent – Sentinel realized something. They were waiting for him to give an order. But their battle order had been blasted apart; Jetfire was leaving the other Autobots behind in his attempts to shake the Skycons, Hotrod and Bumblebee were on opposite ends of the battlefield, Arcee was nowhere to be seen, Bulkhead and Heavyarms stood together in a circle of dead Cons. Smokescreen stood at Sentinel's side, guarding his flank.

There was no way they could manage an orderly retreat into the teams he had established before the mission. But staying here meant practically infinite reinforcements for the Decepticons.

"Scatter." He finally said, "Use the roads to your advantage, get as far from the Cons as you can and look for survivors."

Wheeljack looked like he was about to argue, but instead he had to throw away his Decepticon shield as he was engaged in melee combat. The others quickly transformed and raced through whatever opening they could find. Wheeljack was only a moment behind.

As he drove away from the battlefield, Sentinel saw Arcee take down the last of the Vehicons just a bit away; she'd been behind a building fighting, so he'd been unable to see her. She had heard the order though: she transformed and sped off.

The next few hours were all a blur; Sentinel found some survivors, though never as much as he liked. When they saw him, more often then not they panicked. After a couple attempts, he realized contacting them was useless, so instead he focused on distracting Cons to buy time. He ran into the other Autobots at times, but they were rare. At one point, he'd found Arcee in battle, surrounded by four Vehicons. He blindsided two of them and in their momentary surprise, Arcee killed the other two.

He'd been rescued in a similar way by Hotrod, not ten minutes ago. But their team-ups were short-lived, taking out some Cons then scattering again. It appeared to be working: Ratchet had reported in some time ago that the main army, which had been working on destroying the city, was being dispatched to find the Autobots.

"**Hey guys."** Heavyarms' voice suddenly came over the radio, **"I found something strange."**

"**If it's a Con dissected into eight slices, that's my work."** Wheeljack boasted, **"Wanted to do a bit of artwork today."**

"**It's not that."** Heavyarms' voice sounded even more excited then usual. She must've found something good. "**I'm the same size as Optimus had been, right? Same foot size and everything?"**

"**I… guess?"** Bulkhead replied. Heavyarms was taller then the green giant, but they'd never been able to compare her to Optimus.

"**And Megs is only slightly bigger then Optimus, so he'd only be slightly bigger then me. Right? And he is the biggest Con that they have, right?"**

"**Far as we know."** Wheeljack replied. Sentinel was beginning to think all their chatting – they'd done a lot of it over the past few hours, along with keeping a kill-count – was something that all Wreckers did.

"**Then I found something interesting. A couple of footprints, obviously Cybertronian. Only, they're about twice as big as my feet."**

"**Hmm…"** this time it was Arcee that replied. She rarely talked over the com, only to relay her position, or give status updates, **"That's odd. Unless Megatron used his Space Bridge to call for more reinforcements."**

"**Beep beep- bieep-boep, biieb. ****Bibbity-beep-bop?" **Bumblebee replied. It took the built-in translator a second for Sentinel to understand. "_But who'd be that big? A Combiner maybe?_"

"**Let's hope not, Bee."** Bulkhead answered, **"We don't have the firepower or the numbers to take down one of those."**

"**Jetfire reporting."** Another transmission followed up quickly, **"The skies are clearing out, it's like the Cons are pulling back for something. And best I can tell, the Vehicons are also pulling back. They're amassing in the city center again."**

"**They're planning an all-out assault."** Smokescreen added, his voice barely above a whisper. **"I'm in an elevated position overlooking them now and they're going to organize their attacks more. Looks like Knockout's joined them."**

"**Knockout?"** Hotrod asked, **"Why send him? Any sign of another commander?"** He sounded eager; Hotrod was enjoying the chance to fight the Decepticons more then anyone, but he kept a cool head in battle.

"**No, only Knockout."** Smokescreen confirmed. **"But with him here, they'll be a lot more organized then before. No more blind searches."**

"**It also means that they're all together."** Arcee suddenly said, **"If we strike now, we can do a lot of damage."**

"No, they outnumber us far too much." Sentinel spoke quickly. He didn't doubt that Arcee would keep a cool head, but someone like Wheeljack might take the opportunity to rush in and deal as much damage as he could.

"**Agreed. But here's something interesting. Knockout's gathering most of his troops near a tall building. They're all standing in it's shadow."** Smokescreen sounded like he had an idea. Knowing him, he probably did. **"If we strike the building from my side with enough firepower, I think we can bring it down on them."**

"**I think I can take the building out with a well-placed missile strike."** Jetfire reported, confident but reluctant. **"What do we do?"**

Again, Sentinel felt that dread rising. There were still people in the city, they'd only evacuated a couple dozen people, though human military forces were arriving to aid. Still, the center of the city had born the brunt of the attack and likely had no survivors left.

What would Optimus have done?

That was simple; he'd somehow save all the people in the city, making them trust him with just a look and a word, then guide them all out. After that, he'd charge the Decepticon forces and, through some miracle, take them all down. Probably on his own.

Ok, maybe that was a little exaggerated. But the point still stood. Optimus would get everyone out alive.

"Do it." Sentinel heard himself say it, but he didn't feel the emotion. "Everyone else head in that direction and take out any stray Cons you encounter."

Transforming back into Vehicle mode, Sentinel quickly accelerated towards the city's center. A moment later Jetfire flew over and launched two missiles, then another two. he had shot his last missiles and they each hit their target. The skyscraper he'd aimed at suffered four large explosions before it began to collapse. At that point, Sentinel realized something.

Skyscrapers were tall and heavy. Very tall and very heavy, in fact. That mass of concrete and steel would come crashing down. And he was driving in that direction.

The realization hit him a second before the building actually came crashing down and it was his only savior. Quickly transforming into robot form, he took cover behind a nearby five-story building as the skyscraper crashed into the ground.

The impact was bigger then he could've anticipated; the ground shook violently, causing entire buildings to collapse and the road to crack everywhere, before a massive cloud of dust – though it was actually debris, stones, glass, steel and a lot of other things – were expelled at high speeds. The cloud of destruction reached well past the city's center before it finally died down. Finally, when all was silent, Sentinel looked around.

Most of the buildings in this block were undamaged. There were broken windows and some torn roofs and walls, but everything was clearly recognizable as buildings. Further towards the center it wasn't so clear.

The immediate area was ruined. No buildings stood in a wide radius from the point of impact. There were no streets left, no streetlamps, nothing. Only debris. Only destruction. And he had ordered it.

He had ordered the destruction of an area larger then Jasper had ever been. For a moment Sentinel wanted to shiver, but then he remembered. The others had been on their way.

"Smokescreen?" He radioed, looking around Ground Zero. "Arcee, Heavyarms, Bulkhead, Bumblebee? Wheeljack, Hotrod? You all alright? Jetfire?"

"**We're alright."** Arcee immediately replied. **"Bee, Hotrod and I took shelter when Jetfire attacked. We're well away from the point of impact."**

"**Same here."** Wheeljack followed up. **"Any Wrecker worth his salt would've seen the damage that building was going to do when it came down. So, we took cover. Bulk, Arms and me are moving in now to search the wreckage for survivors."**

"**And I'm fine. Flew away as fast as I could when I launched my missiles."** Jetfire concluded. But Smokescreen hadn't reported in.

"Smokescreen?" He'd been closest to the skyscraper. If anyone could've been buried it was him.

"**H-here."** Smokescreen's response sounded pained, and Sentinel immediately started to scan for him. He was a mile or two ahead, but there was nothing but large collections of rubble there. **"B-buried."**

Sentinel didn't waste any more time, running forward. The debris, pieces of buildings and ruined roads would've only obstructed his vehicle mode, so he stayed in robot form, jumping as often as he was running. Arcee raced by him mere moments later – as a motorcycle she could maneuver through on the debris much faster – while Hotrod and Bumblebee joined Sentinel's run. From the other direction the Wreckers closed in as well. In the air, Jetfire started a slow circle, looking for their buried teammate.

After some fifteen minutes, they had finally dug Smokescreen out. He'd been moving away from the collapsing building, but had been caught up in the shockwave that followed. He had stayed too close to Ground Zero. Arcee had called him an idiot for it, but he could tell them that, at the moment of impact, Knockout had quickly withdrawn through a Groundbridge along with a large group of Decepticons. The building had 'only' crushed three dozen Cons.

As Sentinel walked back through the Groundbridge into their base, he felt thoroughly exhausted. Constant battle, seeing people flee before him, always staying on guard… it was more tiring then he'd have though. How did Optimus do all that and never show the strain?

When they were all through, Ratchet immediately tended to Smokescreen. His injuries weren't that severe, but he did require medical attention.

"Well," Wheeljack turned to the group, but he specifically faced Sentinel, "that was a nice victory. We took out a whole lotta Cons, scared off a commander and only had to level a city to do so." The sarcasm in his voice was unmistakable.

"Jackie!" Bulkhead stepped forward.

"I'm right Bulk." The smaller Wrecker returned. "Look at what we did out there. We did almost nothing for hours on end. Then we decide to end things by crashing a building on top of them? I thought our mission was to save the civilians, not crush them even further."

"He has a point Jack." Arcee crossed her arms. The fact that she sided with Wheeljack seemed to completely stun both Bulkhead and Bumblebee, who looked like their jaw was about to drop to the floor. "The plan you had was a good one, but once we were actually in the field, you hardly gave any orders."

Sentinel didn't rise to the question. He was stunned. This was Arcee, his partner! She was going against him, after everything they'd been through? She'd never argued with Optimus like this.

Sentinel looked at her. Then at Wheeljack. He couldn't bring himself to argue with them. They were right. He had caused destruction to defeat the Decepticon army, when that wasn't their objective. It made him think right back to the trainings under Sergeant Ermey. 'Always focus on your objective.'

A lesson he still hadn't learned, apparently.

After waiting for a moment for a response, Wheeljack turned around with a look of disgust on his face, transformed and drove off. Bulkhead stepped forward.

"I'll go talk to him." He said as he transformed.

"Get your act together man." Heavyarms added as she raced after the other two Wreckers. Arcee also turned, but her face was more controlled. Sentinel could almost think he saw disappointment as she sat down on some boxes on the other end of the cargo bay. Bumblebee looked lost for a few moments before going over to join her.

Hotrod didn't say anything. He just stood there, eyes on the holographic map. Sentinel gave him permission to leave and, with a quick salute, he transformed and Vince stepped out. He didn't say anything, but walked off in the direction of the cafeteria. Only Jetfire remained with Sentinel.

"Look…" the larger mech started, "Being in command is hard, I know. I've been there. But Jack? What you're doing, isn't being in command. We need you to keep control in the field. To be a step higher then we are, to keep _control_ over the fight. If you can't do that… then you're just another soldier, not a leader."

Sentinel just stood there, looking on as Jetfire transformed and Fowler climbed out of the cockpit. He gave another nod to Sentinel before walking off.

XxX

Location: New Kaon

Time: Ten hours after the Battle of Port Harcourt.

System user: Knockout

Designation: Decepticon

Knockout was feeling rather… disgusted. He couldn't help it. Shockwave's mere presence send jolts down his central processors. And not the good kind either! On a purely scientific level, Shockwave deeply impressed the medic, but on an ethical level… sure he was a Decepticon and he preferred dissection and other _fun_ medical activities… put part of the challenge was doing everything you could and still have a living, functioning patient by the end of the day.

Shockwave never bothered with things like that. He took all the fun out of science and medicine. And now, he had to share his lab with the large purple, unnerving Cyclops. Oh well, he wasn't one to go against Lord Megatron's orders. As far as he knew, he was still on thin ice. Megatron had, after all, found out about his near-betrayal back when Megatron had still been incapacitated.

"An interesting formula." Shockwave spoke the first words he had said in nearly a cycle. The sudden break in silence caused Knockout to jump.

"What was that, Shockwave?"

"This formula you have for the synthetic Energon. It is quite interesting." He didn't turn around, instead kept typing away with his single hand. Honestly, how could he ever get any work down if he only had one hand? Most of the research Knockout had done required delicate movements and he needed two hands for them. But those were questions for a later time.

Preferable a time when he wasn't locked in a room with Shockwave.

"Yes, It's quite impressive isn't it? I reverse-engineered that, you know. From a single drop. That was all that remained of my sample." Touching his shining chestplate – curse those Autobots for nearly dropping a building on him! It'd taken nearly almost a cycle of polishing to get back his shine, damnit! – Knockout felt like giving himself a pat on the back.

"It is lacking." Shockwave still didn't look around and missed the quick deflation of Knockout's chest. "I have found remarks to a similar formula during my research on Cybertron, but I have been unable to unlock the complete formula. Yet these readings clearly indicate a negative effect on the subject's higher brain functions."

"Ah, yes." Knockout didn't particularly mind that – and neither did Lord Megatron for that matter – since it made their forces much more vicious during battle, but Shockwave always wanted perfect results. "Well, that seems to come hand-in-hand with the improved combat abilities, so we didn't try to alter that."

"An imperfection, no matter how small, must be corrected." Shockwave quoted. Knockout recognized it instantly. It had been part of just about every bit of research Shockwave had ever written. It was his personal motto, if he would have such a thing. "With minor alterations, I believe it is possible to retain the improvement to physical prowess, while reducing or eliminating the brain impairments."

"Really? You can tell that from just a look at the formula?"

"I have been comparing these readings to notes from my laboratory back on Cybertron – it's database has already synchronized with that of New Kaon – and I am compiling a list of alteration possibilities for the formula. They will all need to be tested to gain reliable data, but the alteration seems to be possible."

Ah yes, of course. Shockwave's preferred method of science: try out new things as often as possible. No flair, no drama, no excitement to see a theory come to fruition after cycles upon cycles of small work. Just rough numbers science. Effective, but so boring.

Before either could say anything though, they received a message. Megatron had summoned both of them to his throne room. Not a word was exchanged between the two as the walked there.

Starscream and Soundwave were both already present. Curious. Megatron rarely called them all together, unless he had some big announcements to make.

"Knockout, Shockwave, glad to see you could join us." Megatron greeted as he stood from his throne. Starscream immediately bent double in a bow, Knockout following his example and dropping to one knee. Shockwave and Soundwave, however, remained standing.

"Rise." Megatron said, stepping forward. "Allow me to immediately explain the purpose of this meeting. With their new leader, the Autobots are once again proving an annoyance. While this Sentinel seems to be of little threat, he displays a sense of ruthlessness that Optimus never did."

If Knockout hadn't known any better, he'd have thought that Megatron was amused. Well, he definitely wasn't. That was twice now he'd been made to flee after a disaster because of the Autobots. As if is pride wasn't enough, both times had left him with some dents. And Breakdown wasn't around to help him clean those out anymore.

"So, in order to deal with the Autobots, now that the have unified, Starscream will take the Nemesis and his Armada and begin a hunt. Find them, destroy them and bring me their sparkchambers."

There was no malice. Megatron didn't consider them a real threat. Of course, why would he? None of the Autobots stood a chance against him in single combat, unless maybe Bulkhead on a good day, and they were still vastly outnumbered. Still, they were obviously annoying him.

"Soundwave will remain to coordinate things between the Nemesis and New Kaon. Knockout, you will oversee military deployments in Starscreams' absence."

"My thanks, Lord Megatron." So, a promotion then. Knockout could live with that.

"But you will continue to aid Shockwave in his work." That wasn't as much fun. "Our first field-test was a success. Now, let us continue our good work. Shockwave, have you checked over the formula? Can it be improved upon? Or combined with our stockpile of Dark Energon?"

XxX

Location: Aerosol, Germany.

Time: 5 days after the battle of Port Harcourt

System user: Sentinel Prime

Designation: Autobot Commander.

As the Groundbridge closed behind Heavyarms, Sentinel felt like he could just drop down from exhaustion. They'd just returned from a battle at Dubai earlier that morning – a large group of advanced Skycons had struck there without warning – when another strike had been reported. This time, it was La Paz in Bolivia, South America. It had been the advanced silver Skycons again.

Sentinel had barely had time to form their plans before departing. In Dubai, they were to use hit-and-run tactics, split into teams of two, before finally setting up a trap. Unfortunately, the plan had fallen apart after mere moments; Hotrod and Bumblebee had been forced to separate, just as Arcee and Bulkhead split off. They couldn't set up the trap either.

The plan in La Paz had been a hasty construction, a repeat of an earlier plan; send out some scouts to lure Cons into a killground, then strike at a center when they were scattered. Unfortunately, the Skycons had unrivaled mobility. The battle had worn on for hours and by the end, it had ended not with all the Skycons dead, but with them retreating because they were out of ammo. Only a third of them was dead, with maybe a quarter more injured.

And half the city was destroyed by the fighting.

Sentinel didn't even want to think of the casualties of these battles. Dubai had been well protected by a strong military force, but they had been taken by surprise. Still, the damage was only on the outer parts of the city. In La Paz, they had had no such luck.

"Again with the failures!" Wheeljack snapped. He had been getting more and more annoyed with their recent actions. Sentinel was beginning to understand why he didn't function so well in a complete team.

This time, Bulkhead didn't try to calm his old friend. When Wheeljack stormed off, he nodded once then simply left.

"Dude, you really need to shape up a bit." Heavyarms sounded almost as annoyed as Wheeljack. She transformed into Vehicle mode and Miko stepped out. "How many times are you going to try plans with killzones, when your enemies are flying? And when the plan FAILED last time!"

Bumblebee and Arcee nodded once, seemingly agreeing with Miko's statement, before both walked off as well. They all needed some medical attention, but none of their injuries were serious. Smokescreen and Hotrod both remained silent, but Smokescreen's usual confidence wasn't there and Hotrod appeared to be almost slouching.

With a sigh, Sentinel dismissed them, then transformed back. A few moments later Jack was on his way to the cafeteria when Fowler caught up with him.

"Jack." The large man said. His former belly was almost gone. He'd been working hard these past few months and it showed. "Remember what I said before? About you needing to be command in the field, to lead?"

"Yeah, I remember it Agent Fowler." Jack replied, his shoulders slouched. He was just so tired. He wanted to eat and sleep.

"Well, it extends to more then just the field. You have to lead in everything, son. When you brief us, we have to belief in you. When we go into battle, we have to be relieved that you're with us. When we're in a tough spot, you have to make the decisions that matter, that help us all out."

"You're expecting a lot from me." Was all Jack said. Every word felt like a hammer blow. Optimus had done all those things. And he'd made it seem easy.

"That's because you're a leader. There're always a lot of expectations from leaders." Fowler continued, "I just wanted to remind you of that. Leaders are never exhausted. Leaders are never defeated. But there's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"What's that?" What else am I doing wrong by your standards? That was the question Jack actually wanted to ask, but he decided against it. He was tired, yes, but he shouldn't get all snippy because of it.

"Your battle plans." Fowler said. That hit Jack harder then any of the previous blows. While he was far from the perfect commander, he thought his plans at least were good. Now those were bad as well?

"Don't get me wrong, the plans are good. Solid." Fowler continued, probably seeing the look on Jack's face. "But they're only good in theory. The plans are relatively complicated. They would work if you have a large army of soldiers, each following your commands perfectly. Aside from that, you expect the enemy to allow you to fulfil your strategy. But they don't. You have a small, but powerful squad of warriors. Your plans should be altered accordingly."

"Like what?" It didn't bite as much as it might've. But how would his plans work otherwise? Everything he'd read in those books on tactics said that, if you had a smaller force, you had to make the enemy come to your preferred battleground. In the strategy games he'd played, he'd always used an army of similar size to the enemies'.

"Adopting your strategy to your soldiers, not the other way around." Fowler said. "Your first outing? When we came in behind the Cons and saved Arcee and the others? That was a great tactic. It was simple, but played to everyone's strengths. All you did was strike the enemy from behind, get them to focus on a new threat. The best strategies… are the simple ones. Simply because, if it's simple, there's not a lot that can go wrong."

Fowler waited until Jack nodded, indicating that he'd gotten the message, before increasing his pace. He probably had a report or something to file before he could go get some food. Jack continued on, along with his thoughts.

XXXXxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

A/N: Sorry that hits chapter took so long to complete, but I've been rather busy with work lately. Aside from that, writing these action scenes was more difficult then I'd have imagined.

"**It's time." Sentinel said, turning to face his team. "Today, we take the fight to the enemy."**

"**Well." Knockout could barely contain a grimace, "Back to work then."**


End file.
